Timeless Love
by potionslover
Summary: Rose and Scorpius are bitter rivals.But what happens when a prank gone wrong transports them back into the past.Will they overcome their hatred and work together,or will their mutual loathing destroy their lives as well as the lives of those around them.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **This is meant to be a lengthy fic, but to a certain extent the length will be proportional to the amount of reviews it gets. So don't forget to leave a review :)

P.S. This is meant to be totally different from my previous Rose/Scorp, Left Unsaid.

**Disclaimer:** Fan fiction written by JK Rowling is published and bought by millions of people. Its called the Harry Potter series. So clearly this isn't JK Rowling typing.

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**TIMELESS LOVE**

What would happen if our futures depended on the choices we made in the it abridge the gap that Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy have placed in between will it inadvertently destroy their lives, as well as the lives of those around them.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

"Rose...Rose!" a shrill voice could be heard yelling, outside the home of the Weasleys.

"You better come down here, this moment, young lady!" shouted a witch, her face crimson and swollen with rage.

"Hermione," called out a tired voice. "There's no point in yelling at her. You'll only make it worse." said a red headed man wearily.

He was seated in an armchair - by the fire place in the kitchen, rubbing his glasses and looking warily at his wife. The woman was standing at the foot of the stairs, her hands on her hips and face distraught. The man smiled warmly upon seeing his wife's posture for it reminded him dearly of another woman, who had to handle not two, but seven children.

"Ron. We can't let her go on like this," she said pleadingly. "We need to be more strict on her. I mean, what was she thinking? Picking up fights with the boys at her school..." she said, collapsing on a chair, in front of her husband.

"Hermione dear. Its not 'boys'. You heard what Hugo said. Most of the time its just one boy. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised that she's hexing Malfoy's son. I don't expect him to be any less of a git, than his father," said Ron roughly.

"Yes. But that doesn't give her an excuse to curse him. She's already faced dozens of detentions. And I always thought Hugo would be the one to give us trouble," she said, laying back.

"Well, you don't exactly have a case here, Hermione. You slapped Malfoy, when you were at school and now your daughter is doing the same," he said teasingly.

If Ron thought this would lighten his wife, he was wrong. Hermione, brought her head back up and looked far from amused.

"She doesn't even listen to me anymore, Ron. We barely get to see her every year and as soon as she gets home, she shuts herself up in her room," she spoke, in a tired voice.

" 'mione. She's 16. Its just the hormones kicking in. She's a teenager and you remember what it was like when you were sixteen right."

"No I don't," snapped Hermione."In case you forgot, I was busy fighting Voldemort."

It had been twenty five years since the final battle and Ron still jerked, when hearing that name, as though speaking it would bring him back from the dead. Hermione, although having noticed this, chose to ignore it without a retort. There were more pressing matters at hand.

Ron got up and went over to his wife's side and kissed her gently on her forehead. He laid his hands on her shoulder and started massaging it, to help her relax. Unfortunately, his work ended up in vain, as Rose chose the exact moment to come downstairs, causing Hermione to stand up instinctively.

Both women stood incorrigibly rooted to their spots, as they set eyes on each other. To anyone looking, Rose and Hermione would have seemed like a younger and older version of the same person. The only thing that set them apart, was the color of their hair. Out of their two children, Rose was the one who inherited the traditional Weasley hair. Ron had to admit that the red head presented quite an intimidating image as she stared back defiantly at her mother.

If Rose matched her mother in her looks, then she matched her Aunt in every aspect of her personality. She had a flair for Quidditch which Ron was sure couldn't have been passed on from Hermione's genes. Add to that, the stubbornness and a taut will and enough temper to hex anyone who annoyed her, and one would get a mini Ginny Weasley. It was no surprise then, that Ginny was her favorite of all of Ron's siblings.

Ron soon sensed the tension in the room and decided he had to do something to defuse it.

"Rosie... How about we have a bowl of ice cream. And later perhaps, we can take a walk through the gardens. Your Mum will be finished with dinner by then." said Ron cheerfully.

"Sure Dad," she said, smiling weakly, not looking at her mother.

"Just a minute," said Hermione, in a barely restrained voice. "I think we need to have a little talk with her, before she runs off and shuts herself in her room, once again." she said, crossing her hands in her arms.

"What is it?" asked Rose, crossing her hands in the exact same manner as her mother and thinking - _This is exactly why I shut myself in my room, Mum_.

"Would you mind telling me, why you chose to hex Scorpius Malfoy and two of his friends?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows arching up on her forehead.

"Simple. Because they were being gits," she said plainly.

Hermione, who was expecting some form of cover up or excuse from Rose's behalf, was shocked to hear her speak of her actions with such ease. So much so, that she looked at Ron and pointed her hands towards their daughter, as though to mimic 'See what I meant?'

Ron, on the other hand, couldn't suppress a smile and looked at his daughter with pride, thinking 'Thats my girl'. He would have said it out loud too, if it wasn't for the murderous stare he was receiving from his wife, who went on.

"Rose. You don't just hex and jinx people, for being gits. And Neville told me you spent half of your time in detentions," she said, trying to reason with her daughter.

"I'm not the only one who gets detentions. James and Albus gets them too," cried Rose in her defense.

"Thats no excuse for you to keep breaking rules and getting into trouble, along with your cousins. Next year is NEWT year and if you keep this up, you will end up working at your Uncle's joke shop,"

"What's wrong with that? Dad used to work there," said Rose defensively.

"Your Dad worked there to help your Uncle out, not because he didn't have any other options. Now, if I hear another complaint about you, you're going to have to pay for it dearly," said Hermione threateningly.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do?" asked the bodacious red-head , defiantly.

"Well...I..You'll...Ron, tell her how she'll be punished," said Hermione, directing the question at Ron, completely lost for words.

Ron wasn't expecting Hermione to suddenly throw the ball in his court. Although he struggled around for an answer, he knew as well as Hermione, that there was nothing they could do to punish her, as she spend majority of the year at Hogwarts. And they both loved her too much, to enforce too strict a punishment, while she was at home.

Ron finally gave up and looked back at his wife blankly, who after a while continued.

"No more visits to Hogsmeade," she said at last.

"What?" screamed Rose. "You can't do that!" she wailed, having been hit with a low blow.

"Oh yes we can. You get to go to Hogsmeade with the permission forms, we signed. We can choose to withdraw it any time we want," said Hermione triumphantly.

Rose's eyes turned into slits. She was completely lost for words and felt her hands trembling with fury.

"Why do you have to be so harsh on me all the time!" she cried, her voice quivering..

"Rosie.." her father tried to console her, by reaching out his arm.

"I hate you and I'm getting out of here, when I leave Hogwarts!" she yelled at her mother and ran upstairs, holding back the tears that had circled around her eyes..

"Rosie..Rosie, wait," cried out Ron before turning back to Hermione with an accusatory stare.

"What? I couldn't come up with anything else. Besides, this will put a good scare in her. She needs to concentrate more on her studies, else she'll fail her exams." she finished, looking quite upset, despite having gained the upper hand with her daughter.

"Thats impossible 'mione. She has inherited your brains, after all," he remarked, trying to cheer her up.

Hermione flushed slightly and hit him playfully, on the elbow, before going back to the kitchen, leaving Ron looking at the top of the stairs, hoping his little girl would cheer up soon.

* * *

_Hmm, good haul this year_, thought Scorpius, as he took a look at the heap of unwrapped presents lying on the floor, by his bed side. Being the only son, he was guaranteed to be spoilt by a hoard of gifts on his birthday. He took the last one, which was from his Grandfather and unwrapped it eagerly. He wasn't disappointed by what was inside, as he took in the sight of an emerald encrusted broach with a magniloquently etched Slytherin serpent. He pinned it to his brand new dress robes, that his father had bought him and admired his reflection in the mirror for a while.

He had reached seventeen and his growth into manhood was apparent from the briskness of his chiseled face, which matched his father's features, inch for inch. His blond silky hair was dangling smoothly on both sides of his ears. His icy blue eyes, which was one of the few features he had inherited from his mother, struck an appealing feature on an otherwise pallid skin. He was certainly happy with the way he looked, and judging by the dozen girls who swooned at his name, the rest of the school were too.

It was only when his mother's voice sounded in his ears, that he tore himself away from the mirror.

"Scorp..Scorpy..Honey, dinner's ready. We're all waiting for you," he heard his mother calling.

"Be there in a minute, Mum." he shouted back, as he took off the broach and then his dress robes and packed it away safely in his drawer.

Scorpius got back downstairs and noted that his parents were already seated around the table. His father gave him a wink and asked him whether he finished checking all of his presents.

"Yes. Thanks for the new broom, Dad. Its a real beauty," replied Scorpius brightly, as he sat down on the table.

"I want my son to be the best seeker in the whole school. I've been wanting to buy you a new one, ever since watching you play in last year's final. You have talent, theres no doubting that. You're a Malfoy after all and Quidditch is in your blood," stated his father, pompously.

"I just don't want to hear any more excuses of not being able to beat a girl," he finished sounding annoyed, while draining his goblet.

"Don't worry Dad. I'll get the Weasley this time." replied Scorpius in a low voice, looking embarrassed.

"Scorpy, did you like the book?" interrupted Astoria, while slicing her meat.

"Yes Mom. I read a few pages. It was..uhm...quite informative," he replied while looking down at his plate. He wasn't good at lying at people's faces.

Once the three of them finished dinner, Scorpius's Mom left for the kitchen. As soon as his wife was out of earshot, Draco turned to Scorpius and spoke quite sternly-

"You better beat that Weasley this time, Scorpius. I can live with the fact that my son got beaten by a girl. But I cannot bear to see a Malfoy being beaten by a blood traitor, not to mention a Weasley," he said admonishingly.

Scorpius expression changed as quickly as the color of the evening sky outside. It didn't reflect his father's arrogance anymore, but a discernible insecurity, as though he doubted his father's words. Draco, who seemed to have noticed this every time he brought up the subject of blood superiority, felt it was necessary to make a point as usual.

"Look at me, Scorpius. No matter what your mother or any body else says. We are purebloods and this makes us superior in every respect. No matter how highly acclaimed the rest of them are, they will never have the class or panache to be called a proper wizard. So you better not harbor any doubts in your mind and start hanging out with halfbloods and mud..."

"Dad," interrupted Scorpius, unable to hear the use of the filthy word. "Do you really think I'll start hanging out with scums like the Weasleys and the Potters. My sanity hasn't gone down the drains," he replied forcefully, not meeting his father's eyes.

He didn't wait for his father's reaction, but excused himself soon enough on the pretense of trying out his new broom. Within minutes he was outside his Manor and up in the sky, streaking through the air on his Jetrazr. As the ice cold wind washed his face, he thought over what his father had said.

There was a time when he would have walked through the corridors of Hogwarts calling people names, and treating muggle borns and half bloods inferior to him. The truth was that he still did that. Only, he didn't believe in it anymore.

Scorpius had far from removed himself from the antiquated pureblood beliefs of his family. He was sensible enough to know that there wasn't any difference between a muggleborn and himself, and didn't consider them any less worthy of the title 'wizard', no matter what his father said. No, he didn't consider them inferior, but he sure did consider himself superior.

He was, without doubt, extremely proud of his pureblood heritage and he was willing to shove it at any one's face whenever he got the chance to. Why pass on an opportunity to look good, he used to think. He knew he was being a hypocrite. But why throw away the treasure, when they land so willingly into your hands .

He swayed through the grounds which were darkened by the shadows set by their mansion and despite his abnegation, knew that his father was right. It was time he beat the bloody Weasley and paid her back for her insolence. And it wasn't due to her blood status, which his father so vehemently protested against. But because of her pretentious arrogance which Scorpius was going to punish her for, one of these days.

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So what did you think? Review and tell me whether you liked it or not.:)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**** The following story is not intended for profit. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. **

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**CHAPTER TWO**

_Dear Lily_

_She's at it again. Now she's threatened to stop me from going to Hogsmeade. Can you believe that? I've had it with her. I just hope I can graduate soon, so that I can get out of here. Dad is cool about it though. He knows just how much of a git Malfoy is, to understand how difficult it is to restrain myself from hexing him. How does James and Albus get away with all the stuff they do? I'm really looking forward to meeting you guys this weekend. Send my love to James and Al. Could you ask Al, how many days until our owls arrive?? _

_Hugs and kisses_

_P.S. I'm dreading my O.W.L.s. I know I messed up Arithmancy pretty bad._

Rose read through her letter once to see if she sounded coherent. She had, after all, written it in a fit of rage and frustration. She went to her owl's cage and spoke to her as she fixed the letter onto her.

"Its to Lily as always. I hope you're not tired," she said to Lyla as she took her to the window and flew her out into the evening sky. Once the bird flew away, her thoughts immediately returned to her mother. She was growing sick of her bossiness and couldn't wait till she left Hogwarts. _Two more years to go and I can live on my own_, she thought gleefully.

The red head looked out into the orange background, dreaming of a life - free from rules and obstructions, as she watched the rays of sunlight tailing her bird into the horizon.

* * *

Scorpius was walking towards a light, a perennial red light, the color reminding him of red roses in the spring. He could smell its fragrance inundating his mind and senses. He kept walking and so did the light, as though the distance between them was preordained and curtailing it was forbidden. But he kept walking without fear, for whoever was in front of him, brought him clarity and peace and a sense of understanding.

The light stopped and so did Scorpius. It was a person. He could tell that. It had arms and shoulders and legs. It might even be a woman, judging by its suave posture. He decided to be brave and took the forbidding step that brought her closer in view.

From a foot afar he saw it. Her hair, brown and rich as melted chocolate. It struck his eyes like a waterfall splashing on the rocks. She was laughing and it was music to his ears. Just as she was about to turn back and reveal a face, Professor Trelawny popped up from nowhere and obstructed his view, causing him to swear and curse at the old woman. Professor Trelawny was wailing and saying something inaudible, but he didn't care. By the time he shoved her away, the girl had gone and he was woken up by his bed side alarm.

Scorpius was left panting in his bed and not even the jug full of water by his bedside could quench his thirst. For the thirst was not for water, but to seek the true identity of the brown-haired girl that had been haunting him regularly for the last one month. Each time she was about to turn back, Trelawny would barge in and distract him. At one point he was so frustrated when the girl disappeared from view, that he tried to hex the old cow.

Scorpius tried every book that he could find on dream interpretation, to figure out the meaning of this recurring dream. Mean while he was getting increasingly obsessed with the brown haired girl and resolved to find her in the real world. He would find himself searching the faces of all those who had brown hair, whenever he was outside with his parents.

He also tried to recall the girls back at school and so far he could only recall two Slytherins and a bunch of girls from the other houses. But he was sure they were not the one he was looking for. He knew that with one look at her face, he would know - as rapidly as one experiences pain when hexed. He just hoped he would meet her soon enough, for he was sure she was the one - the one who would bring him the balance in his conflicted life.

* * *

Hannah Abbot was counting the money in the drawer, when Tom the barman came up to her and said that he was closing for the night and going to bed. Hannah nodded kindly and went into the pub to check whether there was anyone still staying up. As expected, she saw Professor Trelawny surrounded by a slew of empty bottles, drenched in a smell of sherry.

Hannah approached her apprehensively and spoke to her warmly-

"Professor Trelawny, maybe you should stop drinking and go to bed now. Its quite late," she said while removing the empty glass from Trelawny's hands.

Trelawny who was staying at the Leaky Cauldron after having attended her sister's funeral started weeping and replied-

"I can't believe she's gone...My baby sister..." sniffing loudly.

"There, there.." consoled Hannah, feeling sorry for Trelawny. She sat with her for a while, before finally convincing her to stop drinking.

Trelawny, all groggy and unsteady, tried to stand up from her seat. Hannah, mean while, took out her wand and returned the empty bottles back in its place.

_"HE REACHES CLOSER..."_

Hannah swirled around swiftly, terrified at the harsh voice she just heard. She was even more alarmed to see that the words were spoken by Professor Trelawny, who had fallen back into her chair. Shaking violently and eyes rolling around in their sockets, she looked as though she was having a seizure. Hannah, terrified, began calling her name, and dozing water on her face. But Professor Trewlaney was unaffected by Hannah's attempts to wake her up. Just when Hannah decided to run upstairs and get help, she started speaking again - in the same raspy, hoarse voice as earlier,

_"HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY_

_THE DESTINY WHICH WILL BE IMPEDED BY LOVE_

_A CHOICE HE MUST MAKE _

_FOR THE GRISLY LANCELOT TO BE SLAIN_

_ELSE HIS TERROR WILL CREEP INTO OUR TIME _

_AND HAPPINESS AND PEACE WILL FADE_

_BUT THERE IS A PRICE HE MUST PAY,_

_THE ONE HE CHASES HAS PASSED AWAY_

_AND HE HAS WITNESSED HER DEATH AMIDST THE FRAY_

_HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY AT BAY"_

* * *

At the exact same moment that Professor Trelawny finished delivering the prophecy, a glowing round globe materialized out of thin air and placed itself automatically on one of the shelves, in the hall of prophecies.

"McCormack," shouted a bespectacled wizard. "Looks like Sybill Trelawny delivered another prophecy," he said as he read the inscription on the globe.

"Accidentally, you mean," said McCormack, an erudite wizard, chuckling. He came up to the shelf with a clipboard in hand, and wrote down the inscription on the globe.

_Prophecy number 1285 _

_S.P.T to H.A.L_

_Scorpius Malfoy and Bernaby Lancelot_

* * *

Once Trelawny finished delivering the prophecy, Hannah went to her aid, to make sure she was alright. Trelawny, mean while, seemed to have no recollection of the preceding event, whatsoever. She got back up and quietly went up to her room, sniffing and mumbling about her sister, leaving Hannah looking confused and dumbfounded at what she had just heard.

_Did she just make a real prophecy? _she wondered. Neville had told her about real prophecies that were stored in the Dept of Mysteries. Hannah, recounted what she heard to her husband when she reached her room and Neville seemed sure, that Sybill Trewlaney had delivered a true prophecy. But the contents of the prophecy baffled them both.

Even though it spoke of an event that was about to happen, the final words were in a past tense, as though some of these events had already taken place. As Neville and Hannah snuggled together in their bed, they had the same thought on their minds as the two wizards at the Dept of Mysteries. How could a prophecy be made of an event which had already happened, since prophecies spoke of events that would come to pass?

Even after her husband had fallen asleep soundily, Hannah kept her eyes open and wondered who the unfortunate pair were. And even though she didn't know who the prophecy referred to, she recalled their fate with pain, as the prophecy clearly stated that the girl was fated to die...

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**Author's note: Don't forget to leave a review:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: This is a very short chapter. But I promise it'll get longer. Hope you like it:)**

**Disclaimer:****Me Jk Rowling? Yeah right..**

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**CHAPTER THREE**

The red light, the brown hair, the laughter, Professor Trelawny and sunlight. This was how Scorpius's day usually began over the course of the last month. Nevertheless, he was determined to find out who she was. He started concentrating more than ever to dream a little longer, so that he could see atleast a sliver of her face.

Even during his visit to Diagon Alley last week, he kept searching for that mysterious girl. There were lots of brown among the crowd, but his heart was not set in them. He knew, all it would take him was one look and he would recognize his destined love.

* * *

"Take it back Weasley or I'll knock you off your broom!" shouted a flaming Scorpius, hovering upon his Jetrazr and facing the person he hated the most at school. 

"No I won't. Who do you think you are? Parading the corridors and bullying the half bloods and muggleborns!" spat Rose ferociously.

"You'll never be able to understand the value of a pureblood wizard, you filthy half blood," he shouted, causing a dozen people to huddle below them and watch the fight that was progressing midair.

"How dare you call me that, you slimy git. You know what they should do? They should lock you up, just like they locked up your Grandfather," she spouted, which led to a collective gasp from the students grouped below.

"One more word Weasley and I'll have to forget that you're a girl!" Scorpius warned in a raised voice, his face ready to explode.

"All words and no action. Thats all you ever do and I've heard from my Dad that you're father was just the same and that he too was a coward, so..."

Scorpius lost it. He had enough control to prevent his wand from shooting any spell, but he wasn't strong enough to control the rage that had built up in his mind, accidentally producing uncontrolled magic and causing Rose to be thrown off her broom.

By the time Scorpius realized what he had done, Rose was lying on the ground, clutching her hand in pain and crying vociferously. Professor Mcgonagall was soon by her side and Scorpius saw her taking Rose to the Hospital wing. Scorpius was so shocked by what he had done, that he had forgotten to land on the ground - hovering in the sky all the while. He saw Professor Mcgonagall return and asked him to come down immediately.

"How dare you hurt a fellow student!" exploded Professor Mcgonagall, the moment Scorpius's foot landed on the ground.

"She could have been seriously hurt! Thank god she landed on her hands. If she had fallen a foot far, she would have smashed her head on the rocks." she cried, gasping for air.

"Professor I swear I didn't use magic. I mean..I didn't use my wand. I just...lost control.." he stammered, trying to explain himself.

He knew there wasn't a chance she would believe him and as expected, she brusquely took his wand from his hands.

She pointed her own wand to it and muttered "Priori Incantatum"

The tip of his wand glowed brightly before flickering into darkness. He had used the Lumos spell upon landing himself in a dingy broom cupboard while trying to hide from Filch, a while back. Fortunately, the spell that followed was the one they had learned in her Transfiguration class. This seemed to provide enough evidence to prove that Scorpius was innocent and once Professor Mcgonagall realized he wasn't lying, her expression softened.

"Mr Malfoy. Don't be under the impression that I've let you off the hook though.You do understand that even accidental magic is caused by an intention to cause harm. You couldn't have knocked Miss Weasley off her broom, if you didn't have the strong will to do so,"

Scorpius didn't have a choice but to keep silent and listen to her rants. He looked down and studied the patterns of his shoe, knowing fully well what was coming,

"Detention Mr Malfoy. So as to make sure that you do not land yourself in a situation where you have to hex someone, or rather have the intention to do so, again"

"Yes. Professor," replied Scorpius stiffly.

"You'll be helping Madam Pomfrey with her work in the hospital wing," said Mcgonagall authoritatively.

Scorpius nodded while keeping his head down. A moment later something struck him, causing him to look up at Mcgonagall wearing a shocked expression on his face,

"But...Professor," he pleaded and Mcgonagall knew quite well, what Scorpius was intending to say.

"Yes Mr Malfoy. I know that Miss Weasley will be an occupant of the hospital wing for the next couple of days. You two need to be able to tolerate each other's presence and not land yourselves in detention every other day. Madam Pomfrey will expect you at five o clock. And be warned, Mr Malfoy. Any more trouble and the consequences will be severe," warned Mcgonagall and stomped off into the castle.

If Scorpius was getting obsessed with color of brown then he was getting equally annoyed with the color of red. Not just red, but every damn thing that he could associate with the bloody Weasley. Merlin knew how humiliating it would be to serve detention while the Weasley lounged in her hospital bed. Why the hell did you have to lose control, he berated himself. Irritated , he slogged through the grounds, dreading the five'o clock date with Madam Pomfrey and a certain redheaded devil.

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**Please don't leave without reviewing. Even if you don't like it. At least I'll know how many of you read it. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:****Thank so much to all those who reviewed. Gives out hugs and kisses. So here's the next chapter. I hope to post chapters as frequently as I can. Hope you like it.:)**

**Disclaimer:**** What would JK Rowling be doing, writing fanfiction?? Translation: I am not JK Rowling.****  
**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

"You can start by replacing the bed sheets. After which you can clean the medicine cabinets and all of the trays. Without using magic of course. Normally they're done by house elves, but after what you did to Miss Weasley, I would say its well earned," said Madam Pomfrey, looking as though something pungent had landed under her nose.

Scorpius nodded obediently. Words failed to escape him as he felt the humiliation melt his skin, since he was being given orders right in front of the Potter clan who had come to visit their cousin.

"If you need anything, I'll be in my office." said Madam Pomfrey and went to check on Rose, before leaving the room.

The Potters soon started throwing him ugly looks. Scorpius, ignoring this, went to the beds and began to take the sheets off them, one by one . He decided to start from the one that was farthest to the Weasley's bed. But his plans to avoid the Potters went in vain, as the eldest one walked up to him with an expression that suited a thug.

"You do that to her one more time and I swear I'll jinx you so bad that you'll be screaming for your Mommy," said James gritting his teeth, his hands gripping his wand tightly.

"Believe me Potter. I wouldn't waste my time trying to hex that thing. She's so vile, even my wand isn't interested. I tried to hex her today and it wouldn't even shoot a spell," he spat.

Albus, on hearing this, got up from Rose's bed. He strode over to Jame's side and used a more defensive mechanism.

"Come on James. Why are you bothering. Besides, we shouldn't disturb him. There are lots of bed pans he needs to clear." he said and both the brothers started laughing.

"Rose. If you need anything, just ask Scorpius to get it for you," said James, in the middle of the laughter.

Scorpius could feel his lip bleeding from his teeth pressing into it. He had never been so humiliated in his life and realized that he was completely helpless in this situation. He decided to keep quiet while the Potters went over to Rose's bed, continuing with their snide comments and insulting jibes.

An hour later, the two of them bid goodbye to Rose. Before leaving the hospital wing they threw Scorpius a filthy look which he chose to ignore. Soon after, another occupant was sent away by Madam Pomfrey after being treated, leaving Rose and Scorpius to be the only two people remaining in the hospital wing.

Scorpius was almost done with his work and was wiping the last of the medicine trays clean.

"You missed one over here," he heard the Weasley calling out from the other end. He turned around to see that she was pointing to the medicine tray on her bedside with her left hand, the other hand wrapped around in a cast.

Scorpius, his lips pressed tight walked up to her bed, emptying the tray and wiping it with his cleaning cloth.

Rose mean while studied his expression and laid back on her pillow enjoying the frustration etched on his face. She prepared herself to rub salt on his wounds.

"Its truly wonderful how fate works. How I'm lying here comfortably on my bed, while you're having to slave right in front of me," she remarked, enjoying the red blotches that were appearing on Malfoy's pale cheeks.

Scorpius, despite getting worked up, remained silent. He wasn't going to let her get to him this time and tried to fill his mind with other thoughts while the redhead crowed on.

"Nature knows how to deliver justice. It knew that you were a scum and landed you in a situation where you have to wipe filth. Fitting isn't it?" she said, chuckling.

_Add a drop of Mertlap essence and mix in the lacewings, which should be let to simmer for five minutes_. Scorpius tried to think of anything that would shut her voice out of his mind.

To anyone else, Rose would have presented a pitiful image - lying alone in the hospital wing with an injured hand. But Scorpius, at present, was revolted by everything from her red hair to her freckled skin and wanted nothing more than to close his hands over her neck.

Rose, mean while, kept on with the insults "Tell me Scorpius. This must be really hard for you. After all, I suppose you don't even take a shower by yourself, unless your enslaved house elves help you with it,"

Scorpius, still mute, rubbed the trays rather harshly, taking out his anger on the metal plate instead. Rose kept staring at him unabashedly, wondering when he would crack.

But before she could taunt him any further, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.

"Alright boy, you can stop now. Why don't you wash up before you leave," she said nonchalantly as she went back to her office after asking Rose whether she needed anything.

Scorpius, who was being closely watched by Rose, went over to the wash basin behind the curtains. As he finished cleaning up, he heard a couple of gasps, followed by loud footsteps entering into the room.

"Rosie..." he heard a man call out. "Honey, how are you feeling?",

Scorpius, hidden by the curtains, took a peak outside to see who the people were and saw a red headed man and a bushy haired woman standing beside the Weasley's bed.

"Its just a fracture dad, Madam Pomfrey said I can leave tomorrow," she replied weakly as her Dad inspected her hand.

"We were here on Ministry business and we were on our way to your dormitory. Thats when your mother met Hugo and he said you were in the hospital wing," he remarked, while sitting down on Rose's bed.

Rose gulped. If she knew her brother, he must have told them everything that led to her current situation. Everything to the last detail. Slowly, she sneaked a glance at her mother, who as expected, was looking stone faced and cold.

"But what were you doing climbing the trees? I've always warned you about getting hurt," exclaimed her father.

Both Rose and Scorpius wheeled their heads around at the same time, wondering whether they had heard him right.

Rose, confused, looked at her mother who shook her head softly, as though she didn't want Rose to correct her father.

"Yeah..I..It was a bet. I'm sorry Dad. I won't do it again," she replied warily.

Ron shook his head and gave her a kiss on the forehead and left to meet Madam Pomfrey in her office. Rose meanwhile kept silent, not daring to look at her mother, who spoke out the moment her husband left the scene,

"Thank God I bumped into your brother first. If your father knew what really happened, he would have gone straight to the Slytherin dormitory and wrung Scorpius's neck. Worse still, he would have used it as an excuse to hex his father. The next thing we know, this would have turned into a full scale war between the Weasley's and the Malfoy's," she spoke, looking sour.

Scorpius's hand immediately moved to his neck. He gulped as he imagined the Weasley's father wringing it. After making sure that his neck was alright, he strained his ears to hear the conversation between the mother and daughter.

Rose thought it was better to not reply right now and act as innocent as she possibly could,

"Don't pull that look on me Rose. It might work with your father. But not with me. Hugo told me everything that happened. After everything I told you. After all the warnings, you still haven't decided to change your ways,"

"What? You're blaming me? I am the victim here!" she cried, unable to believe that her mother could be so apathetic.

"You may be the victim here. But you are partly responsible for your present condition. What did you expect Scorpius to do when you called his father a coward, just lay back and let it go? If he knocked you off the broom, then you must have provoked him enough to do so," she reprimanded her daughter.

Rose couldn't believe she was hearing this from her own mother, who was supposed to be worried for her safety, instead of siding with their family's enemies..

"Now listen to me Rose. Any more complaints against you, especially concerning Scorpius Malfoy, and you will not be allowed to go to Hogsmeade. I have told Neville to withdraw our permissions and disregard the forms we signed,"

Rose was close to tears again, but just as she was about to retort fiercely, her father came out from Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Brings back old memories this place, doesn't it 'mione," reminisced Ron while looking around dreamily and walking amidst the beds and trays which Scorpius had just cleaned. "Your Uncle Harry probably has the record for making the largest number of visits to this place," he said as he returned to Rose's bed.

The parents stayed for another few minutes after which they got up to leave. Ron kissed his daughter on the cheek and stroked her forehead. Even though Hermione reminded Rose of their previous discussion by giving her a stern admonitory look, Scorpius saw the hurt and concern drawn on her face when Rose returned her hug only half heartedly.

Once the two elders left the room, Scorpius returned to washing himself. He splashed the chilled water onto his chiseled-pointed face and looked into the mirror. Scorpius, despite having been humiliated, punished and exhausted, saw a reflection that looked indescribably triumphant. _Any more complaints against you, especially concerning Scorpius Malfoy, and you will not be allowed to go to Hogsmeade _he recalled the older woman's words, joyously.

A wicked smile crept across Scorpius's pale-worn out face. All he had to do was provoke her enough to jinx him once and that would be enough for her to get punished. Having to stay back at Hogwarts while all your friends were having fun was not going to be enjoyable for the Weasley brat.

When Scorpius emerged from behind the curtains, he wore a complacent smile."You'll have to be here, same time tomorrow," he heard Madam Pomfrey calling out, from behind.

Rose who was wiping her eyes with her sleeves, looked up abruptly upon hearing Madam Pomfrey's voice, and saw Scorpius walking by. His jubilant expression made her uneasy. Anything that made Scorpius look so happy was not going to bode well for her.

Scorpius, meanwhile, strode passed her as though she was invisible, smiling brightly. You were right Weasley, he thought. Nature does know how to deliver justice.

* * *

"I can't believe that old cow decided to have you clean up the hospital wing. Think of all the scums that lay in here," 

The remark was made to Scorpius Malfoy who was wiping the floor clean, but the insult was clearly shot at the red haired witch who was scowling with each word the tall, blond Slytherin spoke.

The petite figure walked around the hospital wing averting her eyes from the area surrounding Rose's bed before returning back to Scorpius who was done with the floor and turned to her to reply.

"Yeah. Tell me about it. But the infirmary isn't always this dirty Mel. It just peaks in filth with certain specific visits by certain 'specific' patients," replied Scorpius and gave Rose Weasley a long piercing stare which Rose decided to return undauntedly without blinking.

The bitter rivals stared at each other defiantly for several minutes. Scorpius was the first to tear away his gaze. He then went over to his girlfriend's side.

"My poor Scorpy," moaned Melanie as she stroked Scorpius's ruffled up blond hair. Rose couldn't help but start retching in the background.

Scorpius moved closer to Melanie and within moments, to Rose's disgust, unfolded a full snog fest right in front of her.

The only reason Scorpius was maintaining this snogging tryst longer than usual was because he knew it would annoy the Weasley. He opened one of his eyes, in between, to sneak a glance at the redhead and saw that her face matched her hair's crimson.

Rose wanted nothing more than to hex the two knuckleheads in front of her. Just when the moaning became unbearable to listen to, Rose was struck with an idea.

"Madam Pomfrey, could you come out here please!" yelled Rose at the top of her lungs.

Scorpius and Melanie tore apart upon as soon as Rose started screaming. Madam Pomfrey came running to the room panicking.

"What is it my child? What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Its just that I accidentally hit my fractured hands on the bedside table. I was trying to get some water. I tried asking Scorpius here to get it, but he was too busy snogging his girlfriend,"

The maelstrom that followed was loud and mixed in a sea of insults and defenses hurtled across the room with Madam Pomfrey and Rose on one end and Scorpius and Melanie on the other side. In the end, Scorpius managed to earn another day's detention and Melanie was asked, not to visit Scorpius, during his time in detention again.

Once both Madam Pomfrey and Melanie left, Scorpius turned to face Rose who was looking calm and was perched on her bed, as though nothing significant had happened.

"Yes? You intend to say something Scorpius?" asked Rose, faking an innocent concern.

Scorpius gritted his teeth and braced himself for a long reply-

"I understand what your problem is Weasley. You're just jealous. You're never going to be as pretty as the girl that just walked out of here.You'll never be as graceful as her or any other girl in this school. And so you have to resort to 'hexes' and 'pranks' to attract the attention of all the boys. You maybe popular amongst your Gryffindors because of that. But do you think any of the guys will ever look at you the way they look at Mel or any other normal girl for that matter. I'm not going to get angry and hex you right now coz I pity you. I pity you for what you have to do to get a guy to look at you..."

Scorpius was expecting the brat to shoot a spell at him any instant, which had been his primary intention. But to Scorpius's luck, Madam Pomfrey reappeared and told him that he was done for the day. Scorpius, cursing his luck, dragged himself out of the room, hoping to get back at the Weasley some time soon.

Rose was staring at the spot where Scorpius had stood a while back. Her vision was getting blurry and this time, it wasn't due to the sedatives that Madam Pomfrey had given her, but the large blobs of tears that had formed around her eyes.

* * *

**Comments?? Any at all?? **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n:** I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner. I'm barely finding any time to do anything. Well after that updating spree, things had to slow down a little I guess. Heres the new chapter. I put it out in a rush, so I'm not sure whether its upto mark. Anyway read and enjoy:)

**Disclaimer:** Since this is going to be a lengthy fic, I'm saying this once and for all.

The following story is not intended for profit. Harry Potter and all the other characters therein belong to JK Rowling.

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Days passed by and Hogwarts was still as busy as ever. This year though, some of the students were given an added bonus. The sixth and seventh years were going to be taken on a field trip to the Ministry of Magic. This was to provide the students with more insight into their government and to better understand all the intricate decisions that went into managing the Wizarding World. Students who were intending to pursue a career in the Ministry were looking forward to the trip the most.

The Weasley's and the Potter's were equally excited as most of their family members were settled in the Ministry and heading some of the main departments. But for some reason, Rose Weasley was looking upset as James and Albus relayed the details of the field trip to her.

The three of them were lounging outside the castle on a Sunday afternoon, with Rose leaning back on a tree and the Potter brothers facing each other and talking excitedly, the miscreants planning their next prank.

"Come on Rose. You're the only one who can manage to pull it off," pleaded James in the middle of an argument.

"James. How many times do I have to tell you. I can't afford to get into trouble anymore. If I get caught, I'll never be allowed to set foot in Hogsmeade again," replied a wearisome Rose.

"Well thats the point, Rosie. You're the only one who will, most definitely, not get caught," added Albus.

Rose contemplated their offer for a while. "Well whats the big plan anyway?" she asked skeptically.

"Okay here's the plan," said James, rubbing his hands together and preparing himself for the formal presentation of his elaborate plan.

"From what I hear, we will be taken to the Department of Mysteries as well. Once we get there, we want you to get under the invisibility cloak. Me and Albus will start a fight with Flint and some of his cronies. During this distraction, we want you to go to the time turner room and snatch one of the time turners. We stop fighting once we see that you've returned safely. We leave the place with a newly acquired time turner with which we plan endless pranks and hex nameless people and never get caught again,"

When James finished speaking, both Rose and Albus had a strange twinkle in their eyes. The glitter in Albus's eyes was clearly out of respect for his brother and his brilliant plan. Rose's expression on the other hand was one of pure shock and the twinkle in her eye was a fear for her cousin's sanity.

"You have to be kidding me right? This is a joke. Tell me this is a joke," she said, disbelieving what she just heard.

"We're not kidding Rose. Think of how valuable this will be. We'll never have to worry about getting caught again. We can be at two places at once. We'll always have an alibi," said James, the excitement peaking in his voice.

"James. Do you realize what we're dealing with here. You're talking about 'stealing'. 'Stealing', outside your delusional world, is a crime. I was worried about not being able to go to Hogsmeade. This might well chuck all three of us into Azkaban," she cried, wondering whether her cousins had gone crazy.

"Rosie. Don't you realize that we won't get caught as long as we have the invisibility cloak. Don't you remember Dad telling us that there are no protections placed around these devices. And we aren't stealing them. Not technically. We'll return them once we leave Hogwarts. I'm applying for an internship at the Department of Mysteries, after school. I'll return it once I start working there. We're just borrowing them for a while," said Albus defending his brother's plan.

Rose was still skeptical of this nonsensical plan. She looked away from the pair towards the lake which strangely looked foreboding and she wondered whether it was trying to warn her of messing with time.

"But James. Don't you think it's going to be a bit dangerous. How are we going to use it, once we get hold of them? We don't know much about this stuff," she reasoned, turning her attention back to her cousins.

"How hard can it be Rose. Dad has given Al and me some pointers on how to use it. He wouldn't have dreamed of us getting our hands on one, though,"

"Think about it Rose. You wouldn't have to worry about your mother again. You can keep playing pranks on all those rotten Slytherins without ever getting caught. You can make Scorpius cry and visit Hogsmeade," Albus tried to convince Rose.

The moment Scorpius's name was mentioned, something inside Rose rose up. She was suddenly reminded of all things he said to her in the hospital wing. In fact, ever since her mother's visit, she had been wondering how she was going to find a means to hex Scorpius. It had started to seem like her life's purpose.

Feeling slightly more reckless and foolhardy, she agreed to join in on the mission. The three of them moved closer and started discussing the details of their master plan with an irrepressible excitement, disregarding the dangers posed by their devious plan.

* * *

The day of the trip arrived and Rose took particular care in staying out of trouble in the preceding few weeks. 

The plan was to start the riot as soon as they entered the Veil room. According to Proffessor Mcgonagall, they would be visiting the time turner room right before it.

Amidst all the commotion, Rose was to get under the invisibility cloak and head for the time turner room. After getting hold of two time turners - one for her and one for Al and James, she was supposed to use the duplicating spell on one of them, and place the two similar looking decoys onto the shelf.

Rose could still not believe she was being a part of this unbelievably stupid plan, but the perks were too attractive to let go. Al and James were right. With a time turner in hand she would never get accused of anything again. She would always have an alibi of being somewhere else at the same time.

The students and the teachers were to travel to the Ministry by the Knight Bus. Stan Shunpike, the lank pimply driver, was looking ecstatic. "Loads of fares for us, innit?" he had said to the driver Ern.

Once they landed in London, the students got into the telephone booth in groups. Most students had never been to the Ministry of Magic before and thus were in awe of the gigantic structures built underground. They were marveled by everything from the golden symbols that were moving around the ceiling, to the polished marble floors which reflected the greenish flames, every time an employee floo'ed in through the fireplace.

They visited each of the departments one by one- with Harry, Ron and Hermione taking particular care in ensuring that their children didn't get up to any tom foolery inside the place. While Harry was skeptical about James and Al, Hermione was nervous as to whether enough distance was maintained between Rose and Scorpius.

Soon they reached the final stop of their little trip, the Department of Mysteries. The teachers could tell that this was the Department that the students were most eager to see. After all, there were countless rumors flying around regarding the mysterious rooms locked in there. "They have underground chambers in which they tickle torture previous Ministers of Magic" cried one student. "Its all part of the Rotfang Conspiracy," said a young Miss Scamander.

The precautions around the room were lifted so that the kids would have no clue as to how to enter the Department, the next time they visited. The only room which they were not going to be taken to, was the love room which was said to be out of bounds for visitors.

Before soon, they reached the much anticipated time turner room. James, Al and Rose looked at the shiny objects laid out on the shelves with a parsimonious gleam, not being able to wait to get their hands on them.

When they entered the Veil room, there was a pervasive silence throughout. The creepiness of the room spread an intense fear among the students, which was intensified once Professor Mcgonagall told them that this was where they studied death.

As Mcgonagall went on with her lecture, James slyly crept up behind Flint while Al snuggled among the students to position himself behind another Slytherin.

"Now if you all move this way we can..."

A bunch of swear words, followed by sounds of fists crashing. The students, stunned, turned around to see from where the disturbance originated. Prof Mcgonagall, who was interrupted, having jumped at hearing the ruckus, went over to where the pandemonium was occurring.

James and Albus were separately tackling two giant Slytherins, without any wands. And even though they weren't winning the bout and being rewarded with plenty of blows on their faces, they kept searching the crowd to see where Rose was.

Rose, gulping, realized that it was time. She looked around to see whether any one was watching and pulled the invisibility cloak on herself. She slunk outside the room, amidst all the noise which was being overridden by cries of Prof Mcgonagall.

Rose, once reaching the time turner room saw the wizard in charge running over to the veil room to see what the disturbance was and she took this opportunity to accio two time turners from the top most ceiling, so that no one would suspect any was missing.

She used the duplicating spell, which gave the two identical time turners, and placed them on the top most shelf. Mean while, she noticed that the voices from the next room piped down.

Smiling widely, with the invisibility cloak still on top of her, she headed for the Veil room. The students, it seemed, had been taken to the next room and Rose was about to make her way through to the door when she heard a loud voice booming from the center of the room.

"Accio time turners!"

Rose wasn't quick enough as the tiny objects went flying from her hands to the other side into another pair of hands, the owner of which was standing on the raised dias, smiling avariciously.

Rose stood panicking and felt her heart drop into her stomach as she heard the following words hurtling across the room into her ears.

"Come out Come out Weasley. I know you're under that thing," spoke out a blond haired Slytherin from the other end, his eyes gleaming maliciously.

* * *

**A/N**: So what did you think? Things will definitely get interesting from the next chapter onwards as we move onto the main story arc. So review and encourage me to write more :D 


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** This is an extremely short chapter. So if you don't like it, please don't flame me. I'm preparing for a job test, which is the most wonderful thing to happen to me for a very long time. So don't expect any updates this week. But I'll surely come out with a chapter next week.

Thank you once again to all those who reviewed. I couldn't and wouldn't have come out with this chapter if wasn't for you guys. So read and enjoy:)

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

Rose's mind had gone numb, her body obliged to follow as she stood rooted to her spot, inanimate and invisible. She thought of making a run for it. A few steps stealthily towards the door and her mind asked her to stop._Why am I running away from Malfoy? _she asked herself. After all, Malfoy didn't have any evidence to incriminate her. Feeling a bit more confident and after looking around to make sure that they were alone in the room she pulled the invisibility cloak from over her head.

"Give it back here Malfoy, unless you want be hexed to death!" shouted Rose while moving towards the center of the room, while Scorpius began tossing the time turners in the air.

"You wouldn't dare hex me, Weasley. Especially in the middle of the field trip," he sneered, hoping to get her riled up.

"I saw you pulling that thing over your head and followed you till here. I used the homenum revelio spell," he added upon seeing Rose's curious expression.

"Daring and quite impressive. But not clever enough Weasley. I'm going to make sure everyone finds out about your kleptomania," he smirked.

Rose, in between frantic gulping and vigorous sweating, managed to throw back something in response-

"Yeah like anyone will believe you Malfoy. Currently you're the one holding the time turners. No one will believe that I stole it. You don't have any proof," she taunted, despite feeling nervous.

Scorpius said nothing but kept grinning crookedly. He stopped tossing the time turners and took out a black metallic object from inside his robes. _I'm going to die young of a heart attack_, thought Rose as she set eyes on it.

"I suppose you know what this is, Weasley. Its a device similar to what Muggles use. It works on magic instead of their idiotic methods. I brought it along to take a few pictures of this place. And how lucky I was indeed. I managed to get the most delectable portrait I could possibly get. Every frame, from you pulling on the invisibility cloak, to your bare hands floating out of it and snatching the time turners, has been preserved in the memory of this bad boy. They're -all- in- here." said Malfoy, tracing his fingers through the contours of the camera.

Rose, who had been moving towards the center of the room all the while Scorpius spoke, had now reached the raised dias. Her hair was out of its bun and flowing smoothly along her shoulders and it made her look like a fiery serpent ready to strike. But Scorpius wasn't intimidated. After all, being struck by the serpent was exactly what he was intending to do.

"So lets see. Your parents are going to revoke your Hogsmeade permission if you get into trouble again. But with this incident, you'll most likely get to have a date with the dementors. The model Gryffindor. What ever will you do?" he faked a concerned voice.

Rose kept moving towards Malfoy and Scorpius was taking an equal number of footsteps backward. Rose was trying to position herself so as to accio the camera in Malfoy's hands, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on the twinkling objects that Scorpius had resumed tossing in the air.

"Like I said earlier, Weasley. Is this one of those vain attempts to gain popularity? To get boys' attentions. See, I don't even understand why you do that. No matter what you do, no one is going to ask you out again. Especially after what happened with Randy Davies,"

What? Rose jerked her head to look at Scorpius. She hadn't been paying attention to a word the scumbag was saying so far. But the last line distinctly caught her attention.

"What did you say?" she asked, readying herself for what was to turn into an all out wizards dual.

"Your ex Randy Davies wasn't as nice as you thought he was. The first thing he did after dumping you, was to spread around the details of your short lived relationship,"

"Randy Davies didn't dump me. I broke up with him!" she roared.

"Come off it Weasley. Who in their right minds would believe that. Roger Davies is an attractive young man who is the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He can have any girl he wants. You on the other hand.." he left it mid sentence

Rose took out her wand and gave him a deadly stare. Anyone standing at the other end of a Rose who looked like that would run for their lives, but Scorpius kept tossing the time turners and smirking shamelessly before continuing..

"Of course that wasn't the big story. He went ahead and told everyone something else, something that traveled all the way down to our dungeons as well, and something that gave you the reputation of being..."

Rose's hex missed Scorpius by inches and went shooting straight through the veil behind him.

"You liar! Take that back!" she screamed and Scorpius, instead of defending himself with his wand, kept sneering.

"Sorry to disappoint you Weasley. But its a fact. A fact the whole of Hogwarts is familiar with,".

Scorpius knew this was a big lie to tell and that she would find out it wasn't true, the moment she went out and talked to her friends. But his objective right now was to get her to attack him and he was willing to stoop to any level to get that done.

_You will not cry. You will not start crying._ The chants in Rose's head managed to pull back the tears that were threatening to effuse through her eyes. She breathed heavily to calm her nerves and tried to focus on her top priority - the retrieval of the metallic object in Scorpius's hands.

"I'm asking you one final time, Malfoy. Give me back that camera and my time turners," she warned, taking a more authoritative and mature tone, as she kept walking towards Scorpius.

"Your time turners?" Scorpius scoffed. "What? The Ministry officials spent every hour of the last twenty seven years, since the last ones were destroyed, so that little Miss princess could play pranks with it. What is it? A special award for the Weasley family, recognizing their efforts in reproduction?" he jeered and started laughing hysterically.

Rose's temper had reached its limit. But her thoughts suddenly shifted from retaliation to that of fear. The fear due to the sight of Scorpius standing mere feet away from the veil.

"Malfoy. You idiot. Are trying to get yourself killed? You are standing really close to that veil," she shouted, a fear creeping up in her voice.

"What happened Weasley? Softened your stance? Realized you can't beat a Malfoy after all,"

"You fool! Get out from there and we can talk," her concerned voice surprising herself.

"Come out from here? So you can accio it back. Nice try Weasley,"

Rose stopped moving in hopes that Scorpius would do the same.

"Half the school believes what he said," Scorpius continued. "So now you can stop with your little tricks. Coz no one in their right mind would want to go out with you,"

Despite the vitriol and hatred that was stacking up inside her, Rose at present was worried about Scorpius's safety. As a result she was busy paying attention to Scorpius's feet instead of listening to his rants, and just as she expected he stopped stepping backward when Rose stopped moving.

"But don't worry Weasley. There are always a select few students who wouldn't mind dating you. Going by what Randy Davies said, they would be more than pleased to take you out, since you'd be willing to..."

The set of ephemeral events that followed, zoomed past Rose in lightning speed. The spell shooting off her wand accidentally and hitting Scorpius on the chest - one of his hands passing through the veil - Rose running forward to catch his other hand from falling through entirely - Rose twisting one of the time turners that had fallen out of Scorpius's hands so as to reverse what happened.

By the time her mind settled in to everything, she felt herself falling through the veil, and all light being sucked out from her surroundings. Engulfed in a sea of darkness and digesting the fact that her short life had been extinguished, she passed out, expecting to wake up in the after life.

But soon, she gained consciousness and before she could open her eyes, she felt a heavy thud on her head. Her head throbbing in pain and eyes still shut, she dreaded the thought of being in the place Grandma had talked about, where they tortured those who did bad things. But even before the sunlight had a chance of blinding her eyes, her nose took in the fragrance of fresh air in the spring.

* * *

**Author's note:** Liked this chapter? Frankly I didn't. Whether you agree or disagree, do leave me a comment or two:) 

The next chapter is from were our story really begins. The previous chapters were merely to setup the characters and their relationships with each other. Oh and I'll also be introducing a few new lores of my own..:D


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**** I'm terribly sorry for updating this late. I've been really busy and traveling a lot for the last few weeks. But here's the new chapter. Hope you like it. And please don't forget to review.:)**

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

His mind was pushing his body forward and his senses were once again tuned to the fragrance of roses. But this time she didn't have her back turned to him. In fact she was facing him. But he still couldn't see her face. The shadows were setting in from the surroundings and masking it. But her hair's brown was still as luscious as before, alluring him even more.

As he walked towards her, he also noticed that she wasn't moving. And unlike before, he was actually nearing her, curtailing that divisive gap. He expected Professor Trewlaney to barge in any moment and distract him. But she never came and he was getting ever so closer to his coveted prize. _One more step and I could see her face. _

As soon as those words glistened in his mind, his head exploded. He grabbed his skull in over arching pain and began to swear profusely. He felt warmth on his face, from which he could tell that sunlight was nearby. But just as he was about to open his eyes, the past set of events came rushing to his head.

He had fallen through the veil. He was dead. He was in the after life. According to their beliefs he was either in a place of torture and eternal damnation or where he would abode amongst the most beautiful angels who would provide him with never ending Fire whiskey.

He kept his eyes shut for fear of what was awaiting him and which world he was about to enter. His brain was grazing in full speed with the words heaven or hell flashing in his mind. But slowly and cagily, he opened his eyes.

He saw an empty moor basking under a luminous sunlight. He saw flowers in its glory and birds chirping in delight. He smiled to himself with a breath of relief.

But the happiness didn't last for long. He turned around to relieve the ache in his neck and screamed at the sight on the ground nearby. Rose Weasley was lying unconscious on the ground. He was in Hell.

* * *

She was looking at an empty landscape surrounded by a patch of green. There were flowers here and there which explained the wafts she had taken in as she lay unconscious. She wanted to lift her head but it was still hurting rather badly. She lifted her head up with one giant jerk, despite the over whelming pain progressing through her nerves. Once up, she looked around to get a clearer picture of her surroundings. She saw that the time turners were lying on the ground nearby. She sauntered over to where they lay. 

Just as she was about to touch them, her eyes fell upon a pair of shoes standing a foot away from them. She slowly lifted her head up and saw a scared looking Malfoy ogling at her with his giant blue eyes.

Despite being jaded and harboring an exacerbated amount of anger inside her, she managed to speak cordially.

"You okay?" she asked him, while rubbing the back of her head.

"Okay? Okay? I'm…I'm dead!" he started yelling.

Rose crawled backwards, being taken aback by his sudden outburst. It was only when Malfoy mentioned it, she wondered about where they had landed. She touched herself and breathed with relief, since she felt very much alive.

"And worse..I'm in Hell!" he screamed and started pacing back and forth, cringing his hands in his hair and looking slightly deranged.

"And how did you manage to figure that out?" asked Rose annoyed at his lack of boldness.

"Well…You're here aren't you? That's evidence enough. I'm damned to an eternity of torture by having to stay with you,"

Rose stood up abruptly despite the pain, strode over to Scorpius who looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. He was muttering "What am I gonna do?" over and over again, while rubbing his hands vigorously.

Rose took hold of his hands, which she could feel trembling, and turned him around to face her. She then took her left hand and slapped him tight across the face.

Scorpius was so shocked by Rose's slap that he stopped trembling and looked at her terrified, as though his worst fear had come true.

Rose took his hand and placed it on his wrist and made him feel his pulse.

"See. You're alive. You wouldn't have a beating heart if you didn't, you idiot," she said and walked off to get the time turners lying on the ground.'

"I turned these back when you fell through the veil, so that I could turn back time," she said while pointing towards the time turners in her hands.

"If I hadn't done that, you would have been frying up in a real hell," she finished sitting down on the ground, not being able to stand up due to the increased pain in her legs.

Scorpius managed to calm down and look around properly for the first time. There were no humans to be found anywhere. He comprehended what happened and asked her a little more cordially.

"So. We've gone back in time?"

"No. Passing through the veil actually takes you to a famous vacation spot. The Dept of mysteries is actually a travel and tourism department," she jeered, while massaging her ankles.

Scorpius realized this was her way of saying that they had in fact gone back in time.

"Now what do we do?" he asked despondently.

"Since we are on a vacation. We might as well enjoy it," she taunted.

"You know Weasley. You can stop with your sarcasm. I get it. We have gone back to an unknown time period. We don't know how to get back. We are stuck here. In other words we are screwed. So either you can be helpful and figure out a way for us to get out of here or keep staying at your asinine best and do nothing but make sardonic taunts,"

Rose scowled at Scorpius but instead of retorting, she swallowed her words instead. After grudgingly accepting that he was right, she tried getting up slowly, although she was finding it hard to do so. It seemed that she had sprained her ankle. She looked up longingly at Scorpius hoping he would give her a hand. But he merely looked away indifferently and started walking towards the other side of the landscape.

Rose swore at the blond and painstakingly managed to stand on her feet. She looked up and saw that Scorpius was already miles ahead of her. It looked like he was walking faster on purpose. Rose meanwhile was muttering imprecations at an even faster rate.

They walked for around ten minutes and just when they thought they had landed themselves in the middle of nowhere they were met with a man. Both Scorpius and Rose stopped upon seeing him. Rose was still quite far away from Scorpius. She moved a little closer to get a clearer shot of the man. He was middle-aged and looked quite plump and affluent. The man meanwhile was looking slightly surprised by Scorpius's clothing and eyed him cautiously.

The man himself was wearing old-fashioned clothes and Rose's heart was dripping in consternation as she matched those clothes with the ones she had studied in Muggle studies. He definitely belonged to an older time period, wearing a long coat, which had braided front panels and were adorned with buttons from neck to hem. Rose felt her heart thundering as she added two and two together.

She shook those thoughts off her head and despite feeling dizzy moved in a little closer and hid herself behind a tree while the two men spoke.

"Sir, would you be so kind to tell me which day it is today?" she heard Scorpius ask the man and was surprised by his civil manner of speaking.

"Well it is Tuesday sir, Tuesday the fifth of September, 1690,"

Both the men heard a thud nearby and looked back towards the tree where Rose had been hiding.

"What was that noise, Sir?" asked the fat man, startled by the sound.

"It…must be a fruit, Sir. It must have fallen off the tree," he said warily.

"Are you a foreigner?" asked the fat man suspiciously.

"Yes, Sir. We are..uhm..performers. From the South," Scorpius replied quickly.

"Well that must explain your appearance then. I was quite startled by your pompadour and your clothes, I must admit. Will you be playing in town?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. Which is why I was wondering if you could direct me to it,"

The man gave him instructions on how to reach the town and took off after conversing for another few minutes. But once Scorpius left to return to Rose, the man turned back and eyed him suspiciously for a few minutes before leaving, with an added thought in his mind.

When Scorpius returned, Rose was lying flat on the floor, knocked out at having heard the news of them having traveled four centuries back. Scorpius started to shake her violently and called out her name loudly.

"Weasley..Weasley. Getup." he shouted. And as she had done before, he began slapping her on her face. Although he had done it to wake her up, he couldn't deny he was enjoying it tremendously, as it was bit of a pay back.

Rose opened her eyes slowly and began whispering incoherently.

"Mom. Is that you?" she asked, subconsciously.

"No it's Harry Potter, here to save you from the big bad wolf. Get up." he yelled and got back up.

Once Rose managed to fully gain consciousness she got on her feet. She ambled over to Scorpius, who had his back turned to her and was looking around to figure out the instructions the old man had given him.

SPLAT! "Oww!" he yelled and turned around to see that Rose was attacking him with a branch fallen off a tree.

"YOU…ARSE… SCORPIUS MALFOY" she yelled with each strike

"Get off me you crazy bitch!" he yelled in pain. But Rose wasn't backing down. She was wearing an almost deranged expression and was shouting at the top of her voice.

"IF WE EVER GET OUT OF HERE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU. AND THEN I'M GONNA WIPE OUT YOUR WHOLE BLOODY FAMILY FOR HAVING RAISED SUCH AN ASS FOR A SON!"

Scorpius, saddled with pain from the blows he was receiving, managed to topple the branch out of her hands. When Rose lost hold of the branch, she searched around for her wand.

"WHERE'S MY WAND?" she screamed, looking almost terrifying with her red hair waving erratically on both sides of her shoulders.

But after searching her robes and looking around for a while, her expression changed to one of fear.

"Merlin. I...I cannot find my wand," she cried worriedly.

Scorpius was watching her with trepidation. He saw her panicking and running back to the spot where they had gotten up and saw her return shortly after, almost at the verge of tears.

"I lost my wand. I left it behind," tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke.

Scorpius was far from feeling sorry for her. Serves her right, he thought angrily.

Rose immediately turned her attention back to Scorpius whose forehead was bleeding from the blows she had given him.

"You," she screamed accusatorily, her eyes bulging out of its sockets. "This is all your fault, you rotten bastard!" she yelled while moving towards him threateningly.

"I'm warning you Weasley. You better stop right there. Unlike you I still have my…" he stopped mid sentence as his hands dug deep into his pockets, where he was expecting to feel the tip of his wand.

He started panicking and searching crazily through his robes for the wooden stick. He soon imitated the set of things that Rose had just done, going back to the spot where they lay and coming back and searching all around once again.

At last he fell to the ground devastated, with a terrifying realization.

"I left my wand back too," he said, his voice hollow. He sat on the floor desolately - horrified at the thought of being stranded in 1690 without his wand and even worse - _with the Weasley._

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**Author's note:** Thank you so much for reading. I'll try and update soon. Perhaps even sooner if you leave a review:D 

P.S. There was tiny parallel that I drew between Rose and Hermione. Spotted it?


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: ** An early chapter in order to make up for the delay. Read and Enjoy. And Thanks to all of you who reviewed. You guys are truly wonderful. And I've enabled the anonymous reviews too:) But no flaming please.

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**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Scorpius was sitting on the ground looking haggard and panicked at the thought of being stuck in the 17th century without being able to do magic. His mind was functioning by rote and he felt his pulse slow down. He sat there for what seemed like hours somehow expecting to wake up from this perennial nightmare. It was only after a while that he realized that Rose Weasley was staring at him the whole time.

Scorpius looked up from where he sat and saw that Rose was standing with her hands on her hips looking as ferocious as a lioness. Her mane and its redness did give her a striking resemblance to the creature.

"What?" he asked finally, annoyed at being stared at unabashedly.

"What? What?" she kept repeating, her eyebrows arching up each time.

"Are you repeating everything I'm saying?" he asked wondering whether the Weasley had finally cracked.

"Tell me how do we get out of here," she demanded.

"How am I supposed to know?" he cried while Rose's face swelled up and looked internecine.

"I don't care! You are the reason we are stuck here and I'm expecting you to find a way for us to get back. If you don't give me an answer, I'll blow your freaking head off with that branch over there!" she shouted, causing Scorpius to cringe.

"How the hell is it my fault? No body asked you to come to my rescue!" he yelled as he got back on his feet.

"If I hadn't, you would have been slaving in Hell with hot iron rods being shoved down your throat!"

"Believe me. I would rather have iron rods shoved down my throat than be stuck here with you. Who the hell do you think you are anyway, my knight in shining armor?" he mocked.

"I saved your life, you arrogant bastard!" she yelled back.

"Fine. You displayed an audacious display of chivalry. Remind me to nominate you for the outstanding bravery awards when we get out here. But in case you didn't notice, the underlined sentence here is 'No body asked you to jump off your seat and save me'!" he said moving towards the red head – their voices now loud enough to travel all the way to town.

"I understand that the concept of helping people is foreign to you, Malfoy. But unlike the Malfoy's ten commandments, which include 'Save thyself' ten times in a row, normal people do tend to save others during situations like these," replied Rose while taking an equal number of steps towards Scorpius, so that their faces were within inches from each other.

Rose saw Scorpius's expression suddenly turn grim and looked behind to see what he was looking at. Scorpius suddenly grabbed Rose by the elbow and dragged her behind the tree.

"Hey. Get your hands…" she shouted, but Scorpius cut her off mid sentence by covering her mouth with his hands

"Ssshh.. Someone's coming," he said, looking grave while taking his hands off her mouth.

Rose, disgusted with having Scorpius's spindly hands in contact with her lips, was about to retort when she heard footsteps on the nearby foliage and murmurs from a group of men.

"I tell you, he was right here," said a gruff voice, while strutting around the ground.

"It might be, that he left for town. You said you gave him directions to the town, did you not?" asked an elderly voice.

"I most certainly did. He looked very strange I tell you. I am resigned to believe that he might have lied about being a performer," he replied.

"How would you describe his looks, Sir?" asked a younger squeakier voice.

"He was wearing a strange assortment of clothes. He was draped in a heavy set of robes. And by Lord, did he have the most unusual pompadour. He looked quite young. He should be nearing eighteen or nineteen, perhaps"

"Close enough," said Scorpius while he listened from behind the tree.

"But he sure was a striking gentleman, with rich features. Quite attractive I must say," he finished.

Scorpius smirked smugly while Rose scowled and made retching sounds, much to the annoyance of Scorpius.

"I say he must be in town by now. Let us move along and ask the townsfolk," said the elderly gentleman and all three of them walked off, leaving Rose and Scorpius to breathe with relief.

Once the men disappeared, Rose didn't wait a second before bursting out,

"Great. Now they suspect us! Way to go 'Mr I'm so charming I can be unsuspicious with a chicken sticking out of my head'"

"At least I didn't faint when I heard the truth. You should be grateful I was there to ask him what day it was. Had it been you, he would have dragged you off unconscious and…"

"You're the reason why I'm stuck here in the first place!"

"Fine. I'm the reason we're stuck here. Now that we've established that, do you mind thinking what we ought to do next?"

Rose piped down a little and sauntered over to the tree and sat down beneath it.

"1690. 1690," she repeated while she concentrated hard on the events that took place in the said decade.

"What are you doing? Trying to learn the date by heart?" asked Scorpius as he heard her chants.

Rose ignored his jibes and went back to her thoughts trying to recall the pages of her textbook that dealt with the 17th century.

"Come on Weasley. Think hard. They must teach you something in Muggle Studies. Or are the rumors true that the subject is such a waste of time that you play hopscotch throughout the classes," he remarked.

"Malfoy. Either you shut your big fat mouth and let me think, or you do the thinking by using that precocious brain of yours and recall any events that happened in the 1690's,"

When Scorpius, being stumped for words, didn't reply she said, "I thought so," and went back to thinking hard.

Scorpius kicked the nearby leaves in frustration and muttered curses under his breath. He looked over at the Weasley and saw that she had her eyes closed and her hands on her head.

"You better hurry up before those people return," he shouted from the other end.

"Will you please shut up so that I can concentrate," she yelled back.

"Oh take all the time you need, Your Majesty. By which time those men will be back with torch flames to burn us alive,"

Rose jumped up brusquely and cried, "That's it. The Salem witch trials. They were held in the 1690's!"

"But…that's in America, isn't it?" he replied weakly, clearly frightened.

"Which means this is the witch burning era," she said ignoring Scorpius question. "This was when all those witches were burnt at the stakes. Or at least pretended to be," she finished as if talking to herself, looking slightly more bolder than Scorpius, who mean while looked like he had seen a ghost.

"What do you mean 'pretended to be'? he squealed terrified.

"Remember attending a class called History of Magic? Most witches used a freezing charm when they were set aflame. And they made crying noises, so that it would look like they were squirming in pain. Once they left, they would lift the charm and walk free," she stated calmly.

"All that is squeaky clean. Except for one tiny problem," said Scorpius and Rose, without waiting for answer replied in horror as the truth dawned upon her.

"We don't have our wands,"

The rivals stared at each other in shock and fear wondering what they would do if caught.

After a long pause Scorpius replied,

"Weasley. I know it's going to be difficult. But if we want to make it out of here alive, we are going to have to work together," he said with great difficulty.

Rose despite being annoyed at the idea, nodded her head in agreement. It was a stiff nod, which clearly meant 'As if I have a choice'

"Which means no more 'It's your fault I'm stuck here' arguments," he said sternly.

"Fine," she grumbled, while looking away.

"So first we'll have to get out of these clothes and mix in with the townsfolk. The only reason they suspect us is because of our appearance,"

"And your gelled pompadour," she imitated the fat man's voice.

Scorpius ignored her remark and went on "We'll have to get new clothes,"

"And I presume those are galleons and sickles pouring out of your pockets." teased Rose.

"I want you to accost a man who walks by and act like you have been robbed. You tell him that you're pregnant. You ask him for old unused clothes and he'll feel sorry for you and go get you some.," he replied looking confident.

"What a wonderful plan," she said.

"It is, isn't it?" remarked Scorpius looking excited.

"Oh it's perfect and fail safe too. In case he feels suspicious and decides to turn me in, you can run away and save your ass," she replied, her words dripping in sarcasm.

"Fine. We'll go with your perfectly tailored fail-safe plan then. Oh. That's right, you don't have one," he taunted while Rose scowled and folded her hands in her arms.

"So unless you can come up with something better, you'll have to do what I say," said Scorpius.

Rose took off her robes in frustration and walked off behind the tree. Just when Scorpius thought she left, Rose returned with a pumped up belly, which was in fact her shirt stuffed with her robes..

"Do I look pregnant enough?" she shot at Scorpius.

Scorpius stared at Rose and couldn't help but smile at the Weasley's question and her inflated belly.

"Four months can only get you a loaf of bread. Here's my sweater. Seven should be good enough to get you free clothes," he said and took off his sweater and handed it to her.

Rose blushed at his words and turned around to hide the wide smile that had formed around her lips. She stuffed her shirt with Scorpius's sweater and turned around to face him.

Scorpius scanned her from head to toe and gave her a thumbs up. Rose mean while reached out her hand and demanded Scorpius's robes.

"Why do you need my robes for?" he asked bewildered.

"Because a shirt and a knee length skirt haven't made the pages of the 17th century fashion magazines yet." she shot.

"Oh, sorry." said Scorpius, feeling slightly foolish and handed his robes over to Rose.

After putting on Scorpius's robes and adjusting her belly which had inflated to the size of a helium balloon, the two of them waited in silence to see, who passed through them next.

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**Author's note: ** A special plea to those who read my story and don't review. Please do tell me what you thought of this chapter. Criticisms are more than welcome as long they're not flames. Positive reviews encourage me and negative reviews help me improve. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note:** Thanks to all those who took the time to review my last chapter. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And please don't forget to review, even if it's a simple 'not bad'

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The two antagonists threw furtive glances from behind the tree to inspect whether any one was approaching. After a while Rose, debilitated from the load she was carrying around her belly, started prattling about being tired. 

"Will you please stop whining," said an irate Scorpius.

"For your information I'm not used to carrying such heavy loads in my tummy," she retorted angrily, rubbing her back, which was starting to ache.

"First thing on my list when I get back home. Never get pregnant," she said as she sat on the floor.

"If you're having trouble with clothes, how will you manage the real thing?" asked Scorpius, sniggering.

"Watch it Malfoy! I am close to taking that twig over there and breaking your head like I had promised you earlier!" she spat fiercely.

"Look, someone's coming!" shrieked Rose, as both of them jumped up instantly from where they were sitting.

"Now remember what I told you Weasley. Try not to raise any suspicion and do as best as you can to evoke as much sympathy as you possibly could,"

Rose mumbled a 'fine' and before she set out to put on her act, she tore off certain parts of her robes, so as to present a pitiful image.

"Good idea," remarked Scorpius and looked at the man that was approaching.

The man was aged, with gray hair sticking out from behind his ears. He was wearing the typical 17th century garbs. He walked with a certain air of intellect and Scorpius wondered whether he would be good enough to fool.

Rose took one giant gulp and set out to meet the man. She could feel her heart thundering, praying she didn't mess it up. The man looked quite scholarly and if she had to affix a profession for him, it would be that of a scientist. Just when she decided it would be suicidal to try and fool a man who reeked of such intellect, the man noticed her and looked at her robes cagily.

Rose put on her act and tried to seem deplorable while the man looked at her suspiciously.

"Sir. Could you please help me?" she asked, trying to sound as hollow and weak as she could.

"Dear lady. Are you all right? How could I be of service to you?" replied the man once he realized that she was pregnant.

"Sir. I have traveled a far distance. All my belongings were stolen, as I lay asleep beneath that tree. I have no means to provide for myself. My garbs are torn and I fear for my unborn child's safety. Would you be so kind as to fetch me some old clothes. I would be ever so grateful to you," Scorpius heard her say.

The man didn't reply immediately but inspected Rose from head to toe. After a while he replied.

"Do not distress yourself young lady. I will fetch you clothes if you grant me enough time to make a quick trip to my abode,"

"Thank you for your kindness, Sir. And I do not mind waiting for you to make a trip to your home, as I have nowhere else to go. You shall find me waiting here when you return," she said, groaning in pain by rubbing her back.

"Dear lady. Do sit down, for you do not want to bring upon harm unto yourself. I shall be back in an instance," he said and walked off straight ahead.

Rose turned to Scorpius and gave him a thumbs up. Scorpius emerged from behind the tree and approached Rose.

"That guy gave me the creeps, to be honest," said Scorpius once the man disappeared at the corner.

"I thought he looked quite sophisticated and decent," replied Rose.

"Yes, but perhaps a little too sophisticated. A man that thinks too much isn't going to help us in a situation like this. Hope he doesn't add two and two together and return with the mobs,"

"Would you please stop scaring me? In case you haven't noticed I'm the one who'll be dragged off and turned in," annoyed at Malfoy's lack of emboldening skills.

"What about those group of men who are searching the town for the 'gentleman with the unusual pompadour'?" he retorted

"Well you should have thought of that before you used that damn thing on your hair," she replied looking out into the street to see whether the man returned.

"Oh yes you're right. I forgot to read the discretionary message on the bottle that read 'Not to be used in the 17th century'."

Before Rose could rebuke, they saw the man return. Scorpius went back to hiding behind the tree and saw the man approach with what was a large bundle in his hands.

Rose fidgeted nervously to see whether he was accompanied by anyone else and saw to her relief that he was alone.

"Here you go, dear lady. I have brought along with me some things that may be of assistance to you," he said as he opened his large encasing and took out its contents.

"Some clothes that I could gather. These are my daughter's. Some food, for I can see you are mal nourished and some money to help you with any other needs you may have," he said kindly while he showed her all of the things that he carried along with him.

Rose, who was over whelmed by the kindness of the man, couldn't find anything to say in return and took a moment before answering.

"Sir. This is terribly kind of you. I merely ask you for clothes and you lavishly spoil me with these added gifts. I am sorry Sir, but I cannot accept anything other than the clothes. I should feel obliged," she replied warmly.

"Galloping pixies! Are you out of your mind Weasley?" whispered Scorpius from behind the tree, wondering whether her sanity had evaporated into the air.

"My dear Lady. Please do not demur at my request. You should not feel obliged. It is I who should feel obliged to help you in such distress. Besides, the town is quite parlous for anyone whose semblance would strike as being suspicious. These are very dark times, my child. You should therefore consider not evoking any such suspicion. Please do accept this, for I will not lie in peace if you shalt not," he contravened.

"Sir. I wouldn't want to be the one to deprive you of your peace. As much displeasure as it causes me, I shall accept the money and the food,"

"Is there any thing else I could help you with?" asked the man as he placed the bundle on the floor.

"No Sir. This will do. I cannot think to burden you with anything else," she replied as she started growing a little suspicious herself.

"I shall leave you now. I run an apothecary in town. You can find me there, incase you need any further assistance. Goodbye." he finished and left after bowing to Rose.

Rose nodded warily and once the man left, heard Scorpius emerge from behind the tree He looked excited and started rummaging through the package avariciously.

"Gosh. Look at all this stuff. Food, money and clothes? I have to admit, you did a great job Weasley. And boy, are you good at speaking like a quaint dame. Although you had me worried for a moment there. I thought you were being your Gryffindor self and being all noble and stupid when you turned down the money first,"

Scorpius was half way through unpacking the things when he saw that the Rose was staring transfixed towards the direction where the man had walked off.

"You all right Weasley? Why the frown?" he enquired.

"It's strange don't you think? He didn't ask a single question about where I came from or where my husband is. He didn't even ask me how I managed to travel so far on my own?" she answered, sounding worried.

"Will you please stop worrying unnecessarily. May be he was just a really nice guy who felt it was important to help you first," he assuaged her.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right" she tried consoling herself and went through the things that the man had brought along.

"Okay now here's step two of our plan. First, you get into these clothes. Then you take this money and go to town and get me some clothes from a shop. Once I change my clothes and my hairstyle, those people won't recognize me anymore,"

"And what do you plan on doing next? Buy some land, start farming and settle down in the 17th century?" she asked.

"No. We find out one of our folks and try and settle in with them,"

"Our folks?" she asked curiously.

"Wizards. Come on Weasley, there has to be someone of our kind here."

Rose comprehended what Scorpius said and realized that there was a really high probability of there being witches and wizards in this place.

"The best option would be to wait and watch, who it is that they try and burn next. Odds are that they'll be a witch for real."

"And what if, we are the ones they're going to be burning next?"

"Weasley. Stop being so optimistic. We mustn't hold out a lot of hope," taunted Scorpius causing Rose to scowl.

"We have to try and fit in. Which is why I need you to go get me some clothes first. So could you please get a move on," requested Scorpius.

"Oh alright. But could I please take this load off me for a while. It's beginning to hurt," said Rose and started to take off the clothes.

Scorpius was getting frustrated because they were losing additional time and replied.

"You know, pregnant women don't usually rip their babies from their stomachs and put them on the ground when they're tired,"

Although Rose opened her mouth to argue, the next few words came out from a different group of people.

"Caught red handed!" screamed a man just as Rose dropped her stuffed in robes onto the ground.

Scorpius and Rose wheeled around, to be faced by a group of wild looking men including the three men that had come looking for Scorpius earlier.

"Do not move from your spots, you evil witches. For we carry weapons!" shouted a tall lean man carrying what seemed like a large fork.

"Sir. I am sure there is a misunderstanding!" replied Scorpius panicked, while Rose's eyes streamed with tears.

"There is no misunderstanding for we heard with our very own ears, thou describing thyself as a witch searching around for your folk!" screamed the man, whom Scorpius had asked for help.

Scorpius closed his eyes in disbelief as he realized that the men had heard everything they said. And since Rose had removed the clothes from inside her shirt she couldn't pretend to be pregnant anymore.

The men circled around them with their rakes causing Rose and Scorpius to huddle together. "Malfoy! Do something!" cried Rose while tears poured down her cheeks.

"Do what? We don't even have our wands!" whispered Scorpius back.

Rose screamed as two men took hold of her and as she heard a man scream "Burn these evil folks alive!" she fell unconscious.

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When she opened her eyes, moments later, she was tied to a pole and facing dozens of outraged people, with a few of them holding torch flames in their hands. 

"Weasley. You awake?" she heard a voice calling from beside her and she saw that Scorpius was tied to the pole next to her.

"What happened?" she asked, wondering whether she had missed something when she fell unconscious.

"Well they're going to burn us alive!" replied Scorpius, his voice barely heard over the chants emanating from the crowd.

"Really? I didn't notice. Thanks for telling though." she yelled back.

"They didn't grant us a trial because they heard us confessing about being wizards," he answered.

"Any ideas inside that thick head of yours?" screamed Rose from beside Scorpius.

"You know. You could do a little less with the insults, considering we are going to be killed any moment now," shouted Scorpius in return.

"Oh I'm sorry if I offended you, your Highness. But in case you forgot, this is all your fault!" yelled Rose as the screams from the crowd grew louder.

"Didn't we have a deal earlier of putting a stop to the blame game?" asked Scorpius as the men started lighting their torch flames.

"Sorry, all standard contracts become invalid when the parties are close to being burnt to death!"

"Burn the miscreants!" screamed the crowd as Rose and Scorpius stopped bickering and started pleading with the men.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!" cried the demagogue as he neared them with the torch flame.

Rose and Scorpius both started yelling and once the warmth of the heat reached their feet they braced themselves for their approaching death.

But the pain never came.

After a while, when Rose noticed that something wasn't right, she opened her eyes. Her eyes protruded with shock, as she stood astounded, watching the greenish flames that had enveloped around them, protecting them from the fiery flames. She also felt a tickling sensation reverberating throughout her body.

Scorpius, meanwhile, still had his eyes shut and was muttering to himself, being too terrified to notice anything.

"Malfoy! Look!" she shouted.

"Are you crazy Weasley? I don't enjoy watching my own death!" he screamed back, in a quivering voice.

"You idiot. You're not dying. Open your eyes, you wimp!" she yelled causing Scorpius to open his eyes warily.

"What the…" he started as he took in the sight of the towering green flames that had now encapsulated them wholly.

"A freezing charm!" shouted Rose animatedly.

."Which means…" Rose began, and Scorpius completed her sentence for her

"There's a wizard out there." finished Scorpius and with that both of them finally heaved a sigh of relief.

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**Author's note**: Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Comments would be nice. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note:** This is a slightly smaller chapter. But that's because I'll be putting another one out soon.

Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers of the last chapter. My fingers type so frivolously because of your kind words. Hope you like this chapter too.

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**CHAPTER TEN**

Both Scorpius's and Rose's eyes were streaming with tears. Rose was getting emotional about being alive while Scorpius's eyes were reacting to the soot that was traveling into their eyes. It seemed the freezing charm was weakening.

"Who is this guy? Doesn't he know how to perform a good quality freezing charm!" shouted Scorpius as the smoke blinded his eyes.

"You're complaining about the quality of the freezing charm?" screamed Rose, incredulously.

"I'm just saying, since they're trying to protect us from the fire, they might as well do the job properly," replied Scorpius while coughing.

Scorpius, who was expecting Rose to retort fiercely, instead felt his eardrum break down as she laid out a high pitch shriek.

"Weasley! What happened? Are you okay?" he asked panicking, since whatever it was that made her scream would soon find a way towards him.

"Malfoy remember what I said? We're supposed to scream and make crying noises. Otherwise they'll suspect something," she replied.

"Oh alright. But could you please tone down the volume. There's no point in making out of here alive if I lose the ability to hear!" he shouted.

"Fine," she grumbled and continued with her slightly more restrained screams, Scorpius joining her a few moments later. They could still hear the cheers from the crowds outside. After a few moments when they heard the noises from the crowd abate, they stopped screaming themselves.

A few minutes later, when the noises outside had completely subsided, the freezing charm began to lift off them and they started feeling the heat from the burnt pieces of wood lying on the floor. The green envelope had vanished entirely and they could see their surrounding a bit more clearly. Not a single person stood around the place.

Both Rose and Scorpius after getting off the platform, looked longingly around the ground, yearning for the face of the person that had saved their lives.

Rose felt a pair of eyes on her neck and turned around swiftly to see who it was.

"What?" asked Scorpius as he saw Rose searching for someone amidst the trees behind them.

"I saw someone there. Someone was watching us from behind that tree," she said scanning the forest behind them.

"Lets get out of here before those crack pots return," said Scorpius, looking scared.

"Yeah lets get out of here," she replied agreeing.

"I suggest you accompany me," said a voice from behind them.

Both Rose and Scorpius wheeled around to see who spoke. While Rose was relieved to finally see who it was that saved their lives, Scorpius was simply lost for words.

His heart fluttered and his breathing became shallow as he laid eyes on the person in front of him.

It was her.

Just like in the dreams, the first thing that struck his eyes was the illuminating richness of her chocolate brown hair. Her eyes were a crystallized green that pierced his heart incisively. Her face looked so delicate and supple that he felt he was corrupting its purity by looking at it. He had always believed that he would recognize her when he met her. And he finally had. It was her.

Rose delightedly walked over to the young witch who looked the same age and was of the same height as her and burst out in joy.

"Are you the one who performed the freezing charm?" she asked animatedly.

"Well yes. My father had asked me to follow the two of you. He was worried you might seem conspicuous," she spoke in a sweet voice, the sound of which chilled Scorpius's senses.

"Your father?" asked Rose curiously.

"Yes. He met you earlier on. It was him that provided you with the clothes and the food,"

"He was wizard? I knew there was something fishy about that man," said Rose before letting the young girl continue.

"Father recognized you immediately for he said, forgive me, that the two of you were putting up an appalling disguise. He seemed sure the townsfolk would soon grow suspicious and asked me to keep an eye on you," she finished.

"Thank you so much for saving our lives. See, we ended up here…"

The young witch held her hand up to interrupt her and said

"We will have to delay the discussion of how you reached your present state until we get home to our abode safely. You will have to use a disillusionment charm on yourselves, so that the townsfolk won't see you,"

"Yeah that's a good idea. Except that we don't have our wands. We left it behind," she said.

"In that case I will perform the charm on you," said the young witch and proceeded to take out her wand after carefully observing the surroundings in order to make sure they were alone.

"Is your friend all right?" asked the girl pointing to Scorpius who hadn't moved from his spot and was staring at her transfixed with his mouth wide open.

Rose looked at Scorpius and wondered what the hell was wrong with him.

"Malfoy? You okay?" she asked, getting no response in return.

"Is the gentleman unable to speak?" asked the young witch.

"Only on my most luckiest day," replied Rose irately. "You don't have to pay attention to him," she said and asked the young witch to carry on with the charm.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself. My name is Roslyn," she remarked.

"And I'm Rose," said Rose excitedly, while Roslyn looked over at Scorpius.

"Oh. That is Scorpius," she said lazily.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir" she said while nodding towards him. Scorpius could only manage to open his mouth a little further and stare even more widely.

Roslyn unable to understand why the young gentleman was acting so strange took out her wand and placed it on top of Rose. Rose felt a cold trickling sensation throughout her body. She looked down at herself and saw that she looked almost transparent.

Roslyn then walked towards Scorpius and did the same to him. Scorpius inhaled his breath as she approached, smelling the fragrance emanating from her. He tried to say something coherent, but his brain had shut down temporarily and he could only manage to say "I…You" over and over again.

Roslyn looked at him questioningly and said "Is there anything you wish to say to me, Sir?" she asked. Scorpius opened his mouth and tried to tie together everything he wanted to say when Rose interrupted.

"We better move from here. I think someone's coming," she said panicking.

"You are quite right. The two of you ought to stay behind me. Please do try not to make much noise. I will be taking you to my home. We shall discuss everything else when we reach there," she said and took off in front of them.

Rose and Scorpius stuck together and followed Roslyn who seemed to be taking a shortcut through the woods.

"Malfoy," whispered Rose. "What the hell happened to you? Lost your brains when you got your life back?" she asked.

Scorpius wasn't listening to the red head anymore. All he could see and think of was the brown haired girl walking in front of them.

Rose once again felt like someone was following them. She turned around once again but found no one. Scorpius meanwhile was walking absentmindedly following the scents left behind by the young witch in front of them.

When Rose felt they had reached a rather isolated region where they could not be overheard she asked,

"Hope you don't mind me asking. But how did your father recognize us as being wizards?"

"My father is a very intelligent wizard. He has always been able to tell the difference between a wizard and a Muggle. As to how he does it, is beyond anyone's comprehension. He is quite adept at potions and used to teach it as a subject until a few year back,"

Rose cheered up on hearing this, hoping he might be able to take them back to where they came from.

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" asked Rose in return.

"Unfortunately my ill-fated fortune didn't permit me to. I had to attend to my sick mother, who passed away quite recently. Upon her death, my father resigned his position and opened up an apothecary in town," she said dolefully.

"I'm really sorry," said Rose, while Scorpius felt upset at hearing the young witch's tragedy.

"It all right. Thank you," she said and they kept walking.

They swayed through several trees before finally reaching a pathway. After a few minutes of walking they reached Roslyn's house. It resembled the house that Rose had seen in their Muggle studies text book, and looked out into the river on the banks of which the house was situated.

"Your house is beautiful," remarked Rose as she saw the well maintained gardens spread proportionately around the house.

"Why thank you Rose," she replied warmly as they stepped inside the house.

"Father," she called out as they got in.

She took her wand and removed the charm off them both, Scorpius managing to say an inaudible 'Thanks'.

Rose felt warmth spread over her and looked around the house they had entered. It looked like a typical 17th century house, well furnished and sophisticated.

"There you are. I would like to welcome you to my humble abode," said the man that Rose had met earlier. He had a wide smile on his face and came over to meet them both.

Some how Scorpius managed to regain his voice back and said

"Sir. Thank you so much for sending your lovely daughter to save our lives. We cannot thank you enough," said Scorpius trying to sound as gentlemanly as possible in hopes of impressing Roslyn

"Nay. That was my duty. We have to look out for our kind. Don't we?" he said cheerfully.

"I am Scorpius Malfoy Sir and this is Rose Weasley," he said as they moved into the study.

Rose once again had the uneasy feeling that a pair of eyes were spying on her and she turned around to face the window just as the man introduced himself.

"I am Irwin. Irwin Lancelot," he stated causing Rose to twirl around in shock.

* * *

**Author's note**: Liked it? Hated it? Confused by it? Leave me a comment and let me know. 


	11. Chapter 11

**PLEASE READ:** A lot of you mentioned that you were confused about what happened at the end of the previous chapter. I thought I'd clear that out before I went any further.

Do not worry if you don't know who Lancelot is. I will be explaining that in this chapter

Irwin Lancelot is Roslyn's father. In case you're wondering where you heard that name before, go back to chapter two.

At the end of the previous chapter, Rose felt someone was looking at her through the window, but before she could see who it was Roslyn's father introduced himself as Irwin Lancelot.

AND THIS WAS AND WILL BE A ROSE SCORPIUS STORY TILL THE END:D , unless I get hoards of reviews asking me to do otherwise, like with my prev Rose/Scopr story-left unsaid.

Sorry for the confusion, I guess I'm a really bad writer.

**Author's note:** A lengthier chapter as promised. Feel free to comment on both the positives as well as the negatives of the chapter:). And a warm hug to all those who reviewed. If this chapter is good, its because of your encouragement.:D

* * *

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Rose was positive someone was watching her this time, but just as she was about to look at the person's face outside the window, she heard Roslyn's father introducing himself.

"I am Irwin. Irwin Lancelot,"

Rose swiftly turned around as she heard the name 'Lancelot'.

"Please be seated," said the old man kindly.

Scorpius took his seat immediately while Rose, still in shock, took a while to do the same. Mr. Lancelot immediately went to the kitchen to order some refreshments for their guests while Roslyn followed her father.

Scorpius was too busy ogling at the young witch who had walked out of the room to notice Rose's panic filled expression.

"Malfoy, we better get out of here," she said, slightly breathless.

"Why?" asked Scorpius in surprise, turning around to face Rose.

"I've heard his name before," she said.

"Weasley. I know you're a bookworm. The whole of Hogwarts did. So you can keep your tidbits to yourself,"

"Malfoy. I'm serious. I swear I've heard that name before," she pleaded.

When Scorpius saw how grave Rose looked, he asked,

"What do you mean?"

"Back in the Dept Of Mysteries, me Al and James were looking around to see how many wizards were surrounding the place. When we were sneaking around the prophecy room we heard two wizards talking about a recent prophecy that had been made by Sybil Trewlaney. They said the prophecy's contents were baffling,"

Scorpius was suddenly reminded of Professor Trewlaney popping up in the middle of his dreams.

"Apparently the prophecy was concerning two people and one of them had to vanquish the other,"

"Who was it? Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley? Coz frankly I didn't need a prophecy to tell me that," he joked, causing Rose to give him a threatening look.

"Sorry. Go on. Who were the two people?" he asked a bit more seriously.

"One of them was you and the other was a guy named Lancelot," she said worriedly.

Scorpius staggered at having heard this and replied,

"Me?"

When Rose nodded, he looked a bit scared and waited a while to comprehend this informationo before asking

"So you think this old man is the Lancelot the prophecy was referring to?" asked Scorpius dubiously.

"Not unless you take monthly vacations to the seventeenth century and defeat random bad guys," she replied.

"What about his first name. Are you sure you heard the name Irwin?"

"Well I don't remember hearing the first name. But who else could it be. Don't you think it's a weird coincidence that we ended up in 1690 to be saved by a man named Lancelot?"

Scorpius after musing for a while replied,

"Nah. I don't think it's him. I mean, how could he be evil? He runs an apothecary in town. And look at how nice he is and everything,"

"You mean how nice his daughter is?" asked Rose raising an eyebrow.

"What does his daughter have to do with anything? I just don't see how such a respectable man could end up being bad," said Scorpius justifying himself.

"There have been other respectable wizarding families who have been known to have dabbled in the Dark Arts," she said, while putting an unusual stress on the words 'other respectable'.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Scorpius riling up, once he figured out what Rose was hinting at.

"Malfoy, the only reason you don't want to believe he is evil is because you are smitten with his daughter," she remarked while getting angry.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Weasley," he said as he got up to inspect the room, the purpose of which was to hide his flushed face..

"Besides, look at this place. Does it look like the home of a Dark Wizard?" he asked, while looking around the study.

"I don't know. I've never been to the Malfoy Manor before," teased Rose.

"Watch it Weasley," shot Scorpius.

"Look, all I'm asking you to do is be a bit careful. Can you do that? And it will be better if we didn't tell him about the prophecy. And that includes keeping it from his daughter as well. Just in case you feel like showing off," she warned.

"Yeah, telling a girl you're destined to vanquish her father is the best way of winning her heart," he scoffed while perusing the books lined up in the shelves.

Mr. Lancelot soon returned to the room and provided them with tea and biscuits, which both Rose and Scorpius pounced over hungrily. After settling down, Mr. Lancelot began to discuss the main issue at hand.

"So what brings you here my children? How did you reach your present state?"

Scorpius began narrating everything that happened while Rose listened from the side, seeming cagey. Rose was still doubtful of the man, but now that Scorpius had mentioned it, she wasn't even sure if she had heard the name right. It could have been a Lambert or a Landler. Besides, Scorpius was right. A man who would give up a beloved profession in order to take care of his child couldn't exactly belong to the list of dark wizards. But she still felt it was prudent to keep the prophecy from him.

Rose returned her thoughts to the present and saw Scorpius describe what happened once they went through the veil with great enthusiasm. She could tell that he was being extremely formal in his manner of speaking to try and impress Roslyn, who was looking at him with equal admiration and interest.

Rose's initial impressions on Roslyn changed as she saw her sitting on the sofa nearby with her hands in her lap, looking suave and naive. That's not how a young girl should look like, she thought while scowling. She was of course way prettier than Rose could ever hope to be. What else does she have to do except powder herself all day, she thought scornfully.

And it was customary for the Malfoy to sniff after the prettiest looking girl in his radar. He would date a stick with a pumpkin on its head, if the pumpkin wore makeup. Rose scowled as she saw Roslyn laughing at one of Scorpius's jokes and Rose was left wondering which part of being stuck in the seventeenth century and being almost burnt to death was funny.

Once Scorpius finished talking, Mr. Lancelot lay back on his arm chair and contemplated everything he heard. Scorpius and Rose looked at each other, hoping the erudite wizard could help them out of this mess.

After a long while Mr. Lancelot lifted his head back up and said

"I'm going to need more time children. What you have done is violate two forces of magic which does not reciprocate well when tampered with – Time and Death,"

"When you turned the time turners back, you were half way through dying. Should you return to where you came from, I cannot guarantee whether you will be alive. It will ultimately depend on the prodigious question of who is more powerful -Time or Death?"

Scorpius and Rose gulped and looked at the man desperately.

"'If it is Time, then you shall have nothing to worry about. You may be able to return to an instance before you fell through the veil. If the force of death is more powerful, I am afraid the chances of survival, should you return, will be very dim,"

Rose was almost on the verge of tears. All three of them apart from Mr. Lancelot looked grim at what the old man had said.

"As for how you will be able to return, I cannot yet tell you. Although I assure you, I will do my best to help you in this situation. I still communicate quite frequently with the teachers at Hogwarts. I am sure the Headmaster will provide us with his assistance in this matter. But you will have to bear the inconvenience of staying in the past till we find the appropriate solution,"

Scorpius jumped at this opportunity to answer "That's okay, Sir. We assure you, we won't find it inconvenient. In fact I'm already loving the serene austerity of the country side,"

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. The old man had just given them a 10 percent chance of making out of here alive and Scorpius was occupied with trying to impress the brown haired witch.

"In that case, you can consider this place your abode, until we find a means for your safe return back home, for we shall provide you with everything you need while your stay here," he said gleaming.

"Rosie," he called out.

Both Rose and Roslyn answered his call,

"Uhm sorry. That's what my parents call me," she said, slightly embarassed and all of a sudden she felt an overwhelming sadness engulf her, as she thought of her parents and as to whether she would ever see them again.

"That's all right dear," said the old man as he walked out of the room giving out instructions to Roslyn.

Scorpius got up to follow them and as he reached the door he saw that Rose was still seated, lost in her thoughts and looking mournful. He moved towards her and said

"Uhm. I think they want us to go with them, to show us around,"

"I'll…I'll be with you in a few minutes," her voice clearly breaking, and her brown eyes welling up with uninvited tears as she thought of the last rage filled words she spoke to her mother.

Scorpius stood there for a while unsure of what to say. He looked over her shoulder, his mind brimming with soothing words, but his pride and her hostility stood in the way.

"Alright," he finally said and walked out of the room silently.

* * *

They were shown around the house, starting from the beautiful exteriors, the sunlight lighting up the rows of roses out on the porch. Rose had only read about these kind of country settings in her textbooks. But like Scorpius said, she was beginning to fall for the quintessential beauty of a puritan village. 

Inside the house, they were both shown their separate rooms. It seemed they had used magic to enlarge a few portions of the house, since it seemed smaller on the outside.

Meanwhile Scorpius was getting along more than well with Roslyn. He seemed to have shifted from the awkward gear to the slick mode and she was falling for it like all the other girls Rose had witnessed in this age old act.

"This is your room. I hope you find it suits your taste," she said sweetly.

"I love it. It's simply stupendous,' remarked Scorpius.

"I am really glad you liked it. I was apprehensive about your tastes, which is not acquainted with our quaintness,"

"Oh I love old fashioned things. Our Manor is filled with antiques and has an old fashioned architecture. I belong to one of the most egregious pureblood families, The Malfoys," he vaunted proudly.

"What did your father do for a living, Mr. Malfoy?"

"He worked in the Ministry of Magic," he stated pompously.

"That is quite a respectable occupation," she replied. Rose, meanwhile, decided to but in.

"Oh yes it is, indeed. But Scorpius's family used to have another wonderful profession. Something his father used to partake in, right from when he was in school. Why don't you tell her abut that Scorpius? The young lady would be really impressed," she said to him, referring to his father's death eater activities.

"Oh please do tell me about it," said Roslyn with great interest.

Scorpius, swearing at the Weasley in his mind, replied.

"We uhm...were quite good with collectibles. We used to have a business based on that," replied Scorpius uncomfortably, while Rose added.

"In fact their valuables were so good that the Ministry took an interest in it and hoarded it all up themselves. My grandfather was the one who took care of the transactions. You must have received a good amount for that in return. Right Scorpius?" asked Rose faking a curious expression.

Scorpius knew she was referring to the raids that had been carried out when his father was young, confiscating all the dark objects that had been hidden in their Manor. And worse it was the Weasley's grandfather who had carried out the raid.

"How interesting. It seems you come from quite an affluent family," remarked Roslyn oblivious to the jibes the two rivals were throwing at each other.

Scorpius once again took the opportunity to speak boastfully of his family while Roslyn continued with her panegyric responses.

Rose gawked at the pair in front of her, wondering how anyone could withstand such a high level of sweetness, without getting diabetic. When she started to find the entire conversation too cloying she remarked,

"Roslyn. Forgive me for interrupting. But do I have a room as well?"

Roslyn apologized for making her wait and soon guided her into her room.

Rose's room, which as expected was much smaller than Scorpius's, had a wonderful view from its windows. She opened it to let in the breeze, wandering the outdoors with her eyes. She suddenly felt a whim to walk outdoors and experience some fresh air and asked permission from Mr. Lancelot to take a stroll outside. She got dressed in the traditional 17th century garbs, in case someone were to spot her, took one look outside the window and left her room.

Within minutes she was outside relieving her mind of all the worries they had entangled themselves in. _What will be, will be_ she recalled her father's words. She started moving towards the woods from where they had arrived. It seemed she was following a strange pattern in the path she was taking.

She turned around the corner and stopped abruptly. In three steps she tackled the person that had been spying on her, who was hiding behind the bushes, toppling the wand out of his hand and using an anti apparition charm on him. She had spotted him from her window above and as soon as she saw a wand in the person's hands she decided to take him on.

Pointing his own wand at him, Rose spoke in a menacing voice.

"Who are you and why were you following us?" she shouted.

The person standing at the end of the wand looked gruff and wild. His hair was dangling loosely on both sides, giving him a primitive look. He had a pair of dark black eyes that struck a deep knell inside Rose as he stared at her. He looked no older than eighteen and yet he was more masculine than any boy she had ever seen.

His clothes were torn and dirty, his stubble adding to the dirt that had darkened his face. Overall, he was one of the most feral and uncivilised beings Rose had ever laid eyes on. An intimidating image, she was getting rather afraid of, and had she seen him properly before she exploded, she wouldn't have dared raise her voice.

"I am Galehaut. William Galehaut," he replied in a deep baritone voice that trembled Rose's inner chords. She was getting increasingly revolted by this wild being and wanted nothing more than to get away from him and call for help. But she realized she wouldn't need to do so when he added,

"I am Mr. Lancelot's nephew,"

* * *

**Author's note:** So what did you think? I hope this chapter was long enough. And I know that the quality of this chapter might not be up to mark, since I put it out in a rush, but you are welcome to criticize it. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note:** Sorry for the delay. Was suffering from writer's block. I've tried to make this chapter as long as I can. And thanks a bundle to all my lovely reviewers. hugs tightly

* * *

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Her hair was standing upright on the back of her neck as the wild stranger's tenebrous eyes bore into her own. He didn't make any threatening move, nor did he try and regain his wand back. He just stood there expressionless, staring at her pointlessly, as though trying to decipher a code.

Suddenly a voice from behind interrupted them,

"My dear child. Are you all right? I heard your raised voice and it prompted me to come out and look for you," said Mr. Lancelot as he hurried to where they both stood. But once he laid his eyes on William, he looked livid.

"Boy! What are you doing here? Haven't I warned you this house is out of bounds for you and your family!" shouted Mr. Lancelot, surprising Rose, and causing her to flinch.

Rose was worried whether the boy in front of her would react violently, but instead he merely looked up from Rose, whom he had been staring at continuously till then, towards Mr. Lancelot - with the greatest possible dislike.

He snatched the wand off Rose's hands and looked at Mr. Lancelot with a mixture of scorn and hurt and without uttering a single word walked off into the woods behind them. Rose stood looking at the boy. This time not with fear or disgust, but with a strange curiosity that had worked its way into her mind, in the few minutes she had spend with him.

"Miss Weasley. Are you fine? Did he cause you any harm?" asked Mr. Lancelot kindly.

"No sir. He didn't. In fact he has been following us right from the beginning," she said, turning her attention back to the old man once the boy disappeared around the corner.

"Insolent boy. I would not come to expect any thing less from him. As they say my child, the apple does not fall too far from the tree," he said with great disdain.

"Forgive me, Sir. But he said he was your nephew," she said warily.

"A fact I distress over from time to time," he stated disappointedly.

"Let us move into the house my child, lest we should fall victim to those prying Muggles," he said worriedly.

They got back into the house and moved towards the study. Mr. Lancelot asked her whether she would enjoy some tea. She said no, but instead inquired about his nephew a bit further. Mr. Lancelot at first didn't reply. Instead he sat down and after a while, with a pained expression he began speaking.

"I was born into a family of great wizards. My dear father, who worked at length in the field of potions, upheld the intellect and prestige of our family name. I had one other sibling. My father expected us to continue in his footstep. His wish, I would like to think, came true with regards to one of his sons. But with the other…" his words trailed away as he looked distraught.

Rose could only imagine what Mr. Lancelot's brother was like, having seen his seed in person.

"Even as a child, my brother started mixing with the wrong sort of folks. Engaging in wrong doings of all kinds, speaking ribaldries and causing distress to our poor father. Our father was saddled with grief throughout his life time and lamented about my brother till his last breath,"

By this time the old man was in tears. Rose felt sorry for him and was about to say something appeasing, when Mr. Lancelot resumed speaking.

"After my father's death, I hoped my brother would give up his old ways. But I was foolish to think so, as his greed overcame the little goodness he had. His eagerness and curiosity drove him to the Dark side, until he became entirely reprobate," said Mr. Lancelot with fear in his eyes.

"He has been placed under arrest several times by the Ministry for committing misdemeanors and practicing Dark Magic," he finished looking grief stricken.

"And what is he doing now?" asked Rose curiously as she started dreading the possibility of a gruesome truth.

"I do not know my child. He has been maintaining a low profile ever since his last imprisonment. Although it palliates the official's worries, I have to be honest; it creates in me nothing but fear. For he is an extremely powerful wizard. A poisoned dragon left on its own like that could wreak havoc amongst us all," he finished, the fear on his face now clearly palpable.

"What is his name, Sir?" asked Rose cagily.

The old man spoke the name at the same time that the pair of words spoken by the two wizards in the Prophecy room came rushing back into Rose's mind.

"Bernaby Lancelot," he said dolefully.

* * *

"Those are lovely curtains," 

"Why thank you, Sir. I am glad you liked them," replied Roslyn while smiling.

Roslyn was showing Scorpius around the house upon his compulsion and he seemed to be showering praises at every opportunity he got.

"What a lovely view," he exclaimed as he looked out into the lake on the edge of the villa.

Roslyn smiled genially and after a while they settled down on the porch in front of the house.

"Roslyn. I have never seen a more beautiful locality in my entire life. Why, I wouldn't be upset if I had to stay here permanently," he said while moving towards the brown haired witch.

"Sir. You are too kind. And do not be so pessimistic, for father will most certainly find a means for your safe return," she replied, warmly.

Scorpius watched as her cheeks glowed every time she smiled and waited for a while before he spoke again. He had to do this right.

"Roslyn. You are quite different from all the girls I know. There is a simplistic beauty in you that I have never seen before in anyone," he said dreamily, trying to charm her with his icy blue eyes.

Roslyn blushed and took a while to respond,

"Sir. You tease me with your kindness. I am sure there are plenty of beautiful girls where you come from. Father says, things get better as time passes by. I am sure beauty has evolved over the ages too. Your friend provides an apt example,"

Scorpius broke into a fit of laughter. He found Roslyn's words so amusing that he had to stand up to subside his laughter. By which time he was standing face to face with an angry looking Rose who had overheard their little conversation.

The look on Rose's furious face was enough to silence Scorpius, who was trying desperately hard to come up with an explanation.

"Think the idea of me being beautiful is humorous, Malfoy?" asked Rose barely restraining her anger.

Roslyn sensed the danger of a fight ensuing and took it upon herself to interfere,

"Not at all Miss Weasley. I am sure that weren't his intentions at all. Isn't it Mr. Malfoy?"

Rose knew Scorpius was in a fix. In order to seem gentlemanly he would have no choice but to admit she was pretty,

"Oh no. I wasn't…uhm…laughing at you. But at another thought that…uhm…crossed my mind," he stammered.

"Well if you are done with your jokes, I would like to talk to you in private," she said irately.

"About what?" asked Scorpius irritated, hating the Weasley for interrupting his time with Roslyn.

"About how Severus Snape discovered shampoo," replied Rose.

Scorpius grimaced at her while Roslyn asked,

"Forgive my ignorance. But who is Severus Snape? And what is a shampoo?" asked Roslyn curiously.

"Severus Snape was a potions master just like your father. He martyred his life to rid the world of an evil wizard," replied Rose proudly since she deeply admired the man Al was named after, although Al usually got his butt kicked for the same.

"Yeah and shampoo was the only thing that could get him to cry for his mommy," added Scorpius on a side note.

"This 'shampoo' must be an evil torturous device, then," said Roslyn looking grave.

"To Snape, I bet it was," replied Scorpius while winking at Rose, who meanwhile threw him a 'I don't have any time to wait' look.

"Roslyn. Will you excuse us for a moment," he said kindly.

"Sure. Please feel free to call me if you need any further assistance," she reassured them and entered her house, leaving Rose and Scorpius alone on the front porch.

"I was wrong. Irwin Lancelot is not the evil guy. It's his brother Bernaby Lancelot. I distinctly remember hearing his name. Mr. Lancelot himself said that his brother is a Dark Wizard. It is him you will have to vanquish."

"Is it okay if I do that after lunch, coz I'm starving,"

"Malfoy I'm serious!"

"So am I. Do you know how much energy one needs to keep his concentration while enunciating those spells?"

"Malfoy…" she started but Scorpius cut her off.

"Weasley. I know you are fixated on this delusional idea of a prophecy. A prophecy whose contents you're not even sure you heard right. First you said it was Irwin Lancelot. Now you say its Bernaby Lancelot. Next thing I know, you'll say its Roslyn,"

"So you're saying you don't trust me?" asked Rose irascibly.

"Any one else and I would have. But knowing you so well, I'm beginning to wonder whether this is one of your ploys to get me into trouble again," he said and walked off, leaving behind a livid Rose .

Rose couldn't believe what she just heard. She swore at the blond a few times and walked off in the opposite direction. She crossed her hands angrily and thought _Fine. It's you who will have to deal with the prophecy anyway, not me._

But despite her efforts to alleviate her worries, Mr. Lancelot's words kept playing in her mind like a broken record and she wondered whether this concerned Scorpius alone or if she too would have a part to play in defeating the poisoned dragon.

* * *

A young boy, bathed in squalor wandered around leaves and trees absentmindedly, drawing disgusted stares from those passing by. To an onlooker he seemed to be inebriated and searching around for his house. But the young boy was straying on purpose, so as to lose anyone who might be tailing him. 

He, along with his father, had been caught twice by the Muggles, escaping with ease during both the burnings. After a while when the captures ceased to amuse them, they merely put a Muggle repelling charm on their abode and confunded anyone who suspected them.

He had grown tired of those maneuvers and at one point, his father lost control and performed an unforgivable on a Muggle who had annoyed him, causing him to be dragged off to Azakaban for a few years. They had been lying low ever since and he was doing his best to keep those irritating Muggles off his face.

He looked around slyly to see if any Muggles had followed him. Once he made sure he was alone, he stepped into a house, although it would be hard for the place to fit into the definition.

The squalid structure was clearly supported by magic and if it hadn't it would have crashed onto the ground, owing to its dilapidated state.

The lack of a woman in the household was apparent from the messy front porch which was bathed in the droppings of various animals. William entered his house warily for he didn't want to wake his father up, should he be sleeping, afraid of the punishment that would be bestowed on him if he did. Slowly, making as little noise as possible, he entered.

The place was draped in darkness, despite the glowing sunlight outside. The stench from the house was enough to drive anyone away from it. Dirty dishes were piled on one side of the small room while a man sat in front of a large bookshelf, reading what loked like a tome.

William approached the man cautiously. Upon hearing footsteps the man, whose face had been masked by the darkness, turned around. His face, lit by the sunlight, was enough reason for anyone to run off in the opposite direction. His face was remarkably similar to his brother's, excepting the essence of innocence and kindness that was tangible on the face of Irwin Lancelot. Bernaby Lancelot was cruel and vicious and all one needed was look at his face to derive so. His eyebrows were dark and bushy and his teeth were yellow and crooked. His scars were revolting and no one would stare at his ugly face for longer than a second.

"Where have you been boy!" shouted the man as he brushed aside his long wide mane that suspended on both his sides.

"Father. I have news," said the boy fearfully.

"What news? I am uninterested in the insipid activities of those mindless Muggles. Off you go and do not disturb me while I read," shouted the man turning his attention back to his book.

"No father. It is not the Muggles. It is something else. Something that might interest you greatly," said the boy with great enthusiasm.

The man turned around suspiciously and looked at his son.

"Well, out with it," he barked.

"There are wizards from the future. Here in our village," he said excitedly.

Bernaby shut his book at once and scoured his son with his bulged out eye,

"What do you mean boy?" he grumbled.

William took about fifteen minutes to describe everything that happened right from when he had seen the two wizards being burned on the stake. He detailed what he had heard his Uncle discuss with them and what had happened prior to how the two of them got there.

By the time he finished, Bernaby was no longer present in the room. By body he was, but by mind he had traveled into his own imagination, thinking of the myriad possibilities this could allude to and one of the possibilities must have interested him for he had a strange twinkle in his eye - one that did not bode well for those around him.

William had seen the glint in his father's eyes too, which is why he waited excitedly to hear his father's interpretation of what actually happened.

"My brother was always the weaker one. Always trying to find an easy way out. Mean while he doesn't realize what those two wizards have done. They have created a portal from where they came from. A portal combining the effective power of both time as well as death. A portal so powerful, if tweaked in the right manner it could provide great magical powers," he spoke, his eyes gleaming grisly.

"My brother has always been slow on the intake. He does not realize that the only way those two can return, is for there to be two more deaths. One for each, balancing the dearth they created from their own time, when the veil swallowed two souls,"

William listened to his father wondering what benefit they could reap from all this.

"But what we have at our disposal is a means for us to leap into the future. Two deaths in this century and the return of two souls in their time. Any two souls. They don't necessarily have to be the ones who landed here. It could be you and me," he said and started laughing like a mad man, his knells echoing the debase walls of the broken home.

William's eyes lit up at the possibility of being able to jump into the future with the prodigious magical abilities incurred from the powerful portal.

"But father. What about the two deaths that would have to be made here?" asked the son curiously.

"Why look around for meat when the sheep lies in our own back yard. The witch and the wizard won't have much to do in the 17th century. Let them serve a purpose by offering as our sacrifice," he said and resumed his laughing, now sounding eerier than ever, causing young William to cringe.

"But…That would be murder would it not?" asked William, slightly frightened.

"My dear Son. If you fear punishment, do remember that we will not be around to face our sentence. We will have transported into the future with expanded magical abilities," he convinced him.

William tried to put on a brave face, despite being both terrified and fascinated by the idea his father had proposed. All of a sudden, quite inexplicably, the face of the strange looking witch he had met earlier, waded into his mind. The witch who, by his father's plans, along with her friend weren't going to last too long in this world.

* * *

**Author's note:** Liked it? Hope you did. Lots more surprises along the way.:D. Reviews would be nice:) 


	13. Note to readers

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hi everyone.. I'm terribly sorry for the delay and this, as you can see, is not a chapter, but an apologetic note stating that I will not be able to update for a few weeks. I am joining up for a course, which requires me to move to another city and hence will be busy until I get settled in. Mean while if you're interested please take a look at my story 'The year that went by', which is terribly under reviewed. It was my first fan fic and I personally feel it's my best, so if you decide to read it, please don't forget to review. It can be found on my profile page.

I haven't been able to reply and thank those of you who reviewed the previous chapter and hence am giving out a collective hug to all those who did review. Hopefully I'll see you all soon. Hugs and squishes. Take care.

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	14. Chapter 13

**Author's note:** I'm back!!..:). I have no idea how I managed to come out with this chapter. Truth is, my present living situation is pretty bad. Plus they don't allow us to use our laptops. grunts. But I couldn't keep you waiting for too long, could I ?:D. So heres the new chapter. Hope you like it.

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**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
**

Scorpius was known among his friends as the king of procrastination. He usually disregarded the sun's wake up call and tucked in even deeper, when his friends tried to wake him up. Most of the time he barely managed to escape detention, getting away with a few rough reproaches from his professors. If there was anything he was consistently good at, it was turning up late for his classes.

But today the Malfoy heir, who would usually be so deep in sleep during the wee morning hours that it would take a Cruciatus curse to wake him up, was already wide awake at half past five and carefully grooming himself in front of the mirror.

Scorpius tackled his coagulated hair with a brush and managed to ruffle it up so as to make it look insouciantly elegant. He was wearing a white shirt which he had been given to wear by the servants. He chose to do away with the tights that came along with it, since it made him look ludicrous. He instead cleaned up his own pants using the Scourgify spell,(he had borrowed Roslyn's wand for this) and decided to wear it along with the 17th century garb. In the end, he managed to look like one of those fashion conflated male models who used to walk down the ramps of the Wizarding modeling shows.

The sun was barely out and he could hear Roslyn's father giving out instructions to their servants. He chose not to waste another second before scrambling downstairs to meet the girl who had deprived him of his peace. One of his biggest problems nowadays was to find some time alone with Roslyn, but the Weasley brat kept interfering and joining in whenever they were alone. Roslyn didn't seem to mind and actually seemed to enjoy her presence unlike Scorpius who kept wishing Voldemort would come back from the dead and kill her himself.

Which was why he decided to wake up early before the Weasley and get some time alone with Roslyn who woke up quite early everyday to take care of their cattle and run the errands of the house.

Scorpius tumbled down the stairs at a very high speed, making sure he didn't make a lot of noise. He managed to elude Mr Lancelot who was seated in his study and deeply engaged in his book. Scorpius twisted the knob and stepped out the front door.

The sun was starting to rise. The lake and the nearby greenery waking up lazily, reflecting the crimson of the sunlight . The smell of the morning air stimulated Scorpius's senses and he felt at peace. He went over to the back side hoping to meet Roslyn, imagining a perfectly romantic setting to try and woo her.

He walked towards the grounds crushing the foliage on the way, whose noises drowned the chirping of the birds. The morning cold was chilly and Scorpius covered himself with his arms, reprimanding himself for not having worn that overcoat. He kept walking, searching the grounds for Roslyn but instead finding a group of chickens which were pecking away on the disseminated grains on the floor.

Finally at a distance he saw her. She had her back turned to him and was busy feeding the ducklings that were swimming around in the lake. Scorpius adjusted his hair, ruffling it a bit more and opened up the front button of his shirt. Slowly, he walked over to the young witch and opened his mouth to speak. She had a white cloth covering her head which protected her supple ears from the cold.

"Good morning Ros..."

"You got the first three syllables right," said Rose as she turned around from the lake.

"What are you doing this early in the morning?" asked a shocked Scorpius.

"I, unlike you, usually wake up at this time of the hour." replied Rose. "Looking for your sweetheart?" she added, as she saw Scorpius looking around the ground.

Scorpius who had been scanning the field with his eyes, turned his attention back to Rose.

"What?" he asked, having missed Rose's query.

"Why are you up this early?" asked Rose, despite knowing the answer.

"I...This is when I usually get up,", he mumbled.

"Yeah if your dorm is under attack," remarked Rose under her breath.

"What did you say?" shot Scorpius getting annoyed at having to argue with the Weasley when he could have been spending some quality time with Roslyn.

"Then how come you were always late in class," asked Rose.

"What is this? An interrogation?" he barked, trying to sound angry so that he could escape this argument and go find Roslyn.

He walked off in the other direction grunting as Rose stood behind feeling offended.

"Git," she said as she saw the Malfoy stomp off in the opposite direction.

* * *

After breakfast Mr Lancelot called both Rose and Scorpius into his study to discuss a really important issue. Both of them had turned hostile after the morning's incident and sat as far as they could from each other, and waited for Mr. Lancelot to speak.

"My dear children. I have arranged a meeting with the Headmaster of Hogwarts. He has agreed to grant us a visit so as to meet the two of you in person and discuss the issue at hand. He is expected to arrive this afternoon by portkey," he said warmly.

"Sir. Has the Headmaster figured out a solution to our problem?" asked Rose earnestly.

"I have relayed your situation to him. And he has promised that he shall talk about it when he arrives this morning. Do not fester yourself my child. He is a very intelligent and erudite wizard. Let us keep faith," he replied.

Rose nodded weakly, with a wisp of fear in her smile and sincerely hoped that the Headmaster would find a means for their safe return. She turned to Scorpius hoping to see his reaction and saw him stare shamelessly at the window where Roslyn was wandering around the garden.

"Sir. Do you mind if I take a look at your book collection," asked Rose kindly, being disgusted by Scorpius and his mannerisms.

"Why. Be my guest, Miss Weasley. You are welcome to use it at your leisure," he replied affectionately.

Once Mr Lancelot took leave and walked out of the room, Rose turned her attention back to Scorpius.

"Are you still hungry Malfoy?" asked Rose.

"What?" asked Scorpius, not paying attention to a word Rose was saying.

"If you're hungry there's plenty of food in the kitchen. You don't have to catch flies with your mouth wide open," jibed Rose but eliciting no response from Scorpius inturn.

Rose, angry at being ignored, scowled and stood up and walked over to the large bookcase that was towering the room and perused the vast collection of books that Mr Lancelot owned.

She scanned the different titles on the shelf until her eyes paused at a few words etched on the side of one of them.

_Dark wizards and their conquests._

_A history of the most dangerous wizards in the sixteenth century._

Rose, curious as to what it contained took the book from the shelf, sat down and started reading through its pages.

Scorpius who was busy straining his eyes at the brown haired witch, was suddenly distracted by the tome in Rose's hand.

"What is that?" he asked, curiously.

Rose although having heard him, chose to ignore the young blonde's question.

"What. Are you deaf now?" remarked Scorpius when he got no answer from the red head.

"Oh I am sorry. I thought I was imagining you speaking. Especially since you seemed to have lost the ability to speak up until earlier,"

"What is it that you're reading?" asked Scorpius as he got up.

Rose raised her book from her lap to show him the front cover.

"Do you mind if I have a look?" asked Scorpius.

"Yes I do. As you can see I'm reading it," she replied, even though she was planning on putting it back on the shelf to take another one.

"Fine," he grumbled and went to look through the rest of the books.

Scorpius went through the various titles himself till his eyes finally stopped at a book in particular.

_The enigmatic world of dreams._

_A comprehensive manual on a wizards interpretation of the nightly visuals._

Scorpius, despite having read through every dream interpretation book in his school library, felt compelled to lay his hands on this one as well. Something about this book seemed right and he wondered whether he would get any answers from it. And not every book outside of Hogwarts would have been preserved till the 21st century.

He took the tome in his hands and sat down to read it. He went through its contents one by one.

Finally after searching around a few titles, he got to the page he wanted.

_Recurring dreams and their meaning._

Scorpius quickly rushed through its pages until he reached a dream matching his own.

He bent down and read thought the author's words.

_Have you had a recurring dream that has either of the following in it?_

_1) A rose in its physical state in either of its colors._

_2)The fragrance of a rose emanating through the dream._

_3)A color which instantly brought your mind to think of roses._

Scorpius paused for a moment and tried and recalled his dream more clearly. Yes there was the color red and it did remind him of red roses while in the dream. There was also the fragrance present and he could still smell its wafts as though he had just woken up. But he was sure he hadn't seen any rose per se in its physical state.

He quickly ploughed through the rest of the words to see what all of this meant.

_If you have dreamed of the third mentioned, you have reason to rejoice, for you shall be falling in love very soon. If you saw the specific color of red, your love is bound to last till your last breath. A bond so powerful, not even death could separate the two of you. Even the color of black, which muggles have falsely interpreted as the omen of death, portends a less strong but equally passionate romance in your near future._

Scorpius sighed with relief and felt his heart swell with affection. Of course, it all made sense when put together.

He decided to see what the smell of roses meant as well.

_If however you have dreamt of the second mentioned, you may have reason to fear. The smell of roses despite being pleasant and alluring unfortunately foreshadows death, most specifically of one's lover._

"No!" shouted Scorpius.

Rose jerked her head up in surprise and said,

"Malfoy. Could you make your disagreements with the author a little less vocal," she shot.

Upon seeing Scorpius's scoured face, she asked,

"You okay Malfoy?"

But before he replied, Mr Lancelot came back into his study to bid them goodbye, before leaving for his apothecary.

Scorpius rushed outwards to catch up with the old man, his face slightly pale and his voice hollow.

"Sir. Is this book accurate?" he asked while panting.

Mr Lancelot took the book from his hands and remarked,

"Ofcourse it is my child. How can it not be. Written by one of the most celebrated seers of all time, Alexandra Baxert,"

Scorpius gulped harshly at his words wondering what to make of this disconcerting piece of news.

"But Sir. One of our most senior professors used to say that Divination and its related branches are an imprecise form of magic,"

Mr Lancelot looked as though he had been affronted.

"Certainly not my boy. They are merely postulations made by the misled and misinformed. Alexandra is a gifted seer of great prowess, she has foreseen and foretold a number of catastrophes accurately,"

"But yes dream interpretation is a rather vague field. It becomes quite difficult to assign a unified meaning to a dream. But of all the scholars who have tried their hand at it, the most reliable has to be that of Alexandra's . This book is considered to be somewhat of a standard in dream interpretation. But even she makes mistakes. After all despite belonging to Divination, it is rather disparate from the latter,"

Scorpius, still stiff from all the tension managed to deliver a wisp of a smile so as to not seem strange. The last thing he wanted was to let a man know that his daughter was in danger.

After Mr Lancelot walked away from him, Scorpius returned to his room at once. A few minutes of restless walking back and foth and he settled down on his cot, rubbing his hands together, trying to calm himself down. Didn't Professor McGonagall say this was a field that was not to be trusted?

He looked out the window into the stretched out lake and saw Roslyn standing beside it, sheltered safe under its austerity. Scorpius shook off the disconcerting thoughts and reprimanded himself for being so silly.

They're nothing but dreams, he said to himself.

"Sign one of deteriorating mental condition. Talking to one's self," said a voice from the hallway, outside the door.

Scorpius jerked around, his jaws tightening at the sight of the red head.

"Don't you know anything about respecting other people's privacy?" he shouted.

"Yes I do. And it doesn't include bothering people who are stupid enough to talk to themselves while keeping their door open," replied Rose.

"What do you want anyway?" barked Scorpius.

"Hey watch the tone Malfoy. I saw you looking slightly shaken downstairs and I thought I'd see if you were alright. But it seems I could expect more civility from the pigs down in the shed," she shot back and turned around to leave.

"Wait," he shouted, just as she was about to leave the room.

"If I tell you something, will you promise to keep it to yourself?" he asked nervously.

"No. I am gonna write about it to all my friends in the 16th century," she replied sardonically.

Scorpius shook his head as though to snap Rose out of her folliness and try and get her to understand the seriousness of the issue.

"Weasley. This is important. You need to swear you won't tell anyone. Especially Roslyn or her father," he spoke frantically.

"Yeah like I've made plenty of acquaintances beside them," she joked.

Scorpius ignored her jibes and went on,

"I've been having these weird dreams these past few months. They are the same each and everytime. I read this book to see what it meant and it says that Roslyn is going to die!"

Rose couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst out laughing clutching her tummy to palliate the pain caused by the tumultuous laughs.

Scorpius's face swelled up and his jaws tightened.

Rose started to tone her laugh down in stages upon seeing Scorpius's raged expression.

"You can't possibly be serious," she said incredulously.

"Do I look like I am joking," asked Scorpius his face still tight from the anger.

Rose started to sense from the tightly stretched contours of his face that he wasn't joking. She looked at the book in his hand and gestured for it.

Scorpius concurred and passed it to her, hoping she would take him seriously this time.

"Wow! Alexandra Baxert. She is considered one of the greatest seers of the 16th century second only to Cassandra Trewlaney. I've never seen this one in our library before. I've read Omens and their false interpretations and Divination: the secrets revealed. This one must be one of those that got lost along the way and never made it to the Hogwarts library," she said jauntily.

Rose in all her excitement looked at Scorpius. But Scorpius's vitriolic stare made her smile vanish.

"Uhm. Sorry. You were saying?"

"I've been having these recurring dreams for the last one month. I read through its explanation in this book and it says..its says Roslyn is going to die,"

"You've been seeing Roslyn in your dreams these past few months, even before you reached here?" she asked, a slight variation in her voice, which Scorpius missed.

"What happens in your dream?" she asked skeptically.

Scorpius began describing his dream intricately, right down to every detail.

Rose paid attention to Scorpius as he spoke. She noted how passionate he sounded every time he mentioned the brown haired witch. And despite finding the whole thing overtly ludicrous, she couldn't help feel disturbed by the loving caress in his voice as he spoke. For some reason her stomach felt a knot unravel as she heard him be so affectionate about Roslyn. But Rose was soon snapped out of her musings.

"You saw Prof Trewlaney?" she interrupted.

Scorpius who was clearly more interested in talking about Roslyn replied,

"Yeah well its not a big deal. Coz its what happens next that.."

"Not a big deal Malfoy?" Did you leave behind your brains when you time traveled. Don't you remember what I told you earlier? A prophecy was made referring to you and Bernaby Lancelot by Professor Trewlaney. And you still think all of this is a coincidence?"

Scorpius looking a bit confused at first took only mere moments to comprehend the big picture. It finally struck him from whom Roslyn would face danger if all this were true.

The two young wizards stood rooted at their spots, their minds walking hand in hand, looking at each other in fear.

Meanwhile a pair of eyes unknowingly wandered into the room. Roslyn watched from afar, a trickle of jealously shadowed under her green pupils, misinterpreting Rose's presence in Scorpius's room for a deeper affection.

* * *

**Author's note:** So, what did you think. Was it good, okay or so horrible that you couldn't even contemplate leaving a review. If its either of the first two please do leave a comments as to what you thought of the chapter. More drama coming up in future chapters.:D

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	15. Note to readers 2

Greeting everyone! Yes, I am alive and I'm back! I made a promise to finish this story and I will stand by my word. Granted I have not updated in a while, for which I deeply and sincerely apologize(Life got in the way). I fear I may have lost a lot of interested readers, but I assure you that I will finish this story. I have already completed three chapters, and am in the process of finishing the remaining. So get ready to be pulled back into the adventurous world of Rose and Scorpius.

In order to help everyone get on track with whats happening, here is a quick recap of what has happened so far, although I encourage everyone to read the story once again from the beginning to really get into the mood :)

**_Scorpius and Rose are in their sixth year at school and are sworn enemies. Scorpius has regular dreams of a brown haired girl, but has never seen her face, although he obstinately believes he will recognize her when he meets her. Meanwhile a prophecy is delivered by Professor Trewlaney about Scorpius Malfoy and Bernaby Lancelot which states the following_**

**_"HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY_**

**_THE DESTINY WHICH WILL BE IMPEDED BY LOVE_**

**_A CHOICE HE MUST MAKE_**

**_FOR THE GRISLY LANCELOT TO BE SLAIN_**

**_ELSE HIS TERROR WILL CREEP INTO OUR TIME_**

**_AND HAPPINESS AND PEACE WILL FADE_**

**_BUT THERE IS A PRICE HE MUST PAY,_**

**_THE ONE HE CHASES HAS PASSED AWAY_**

**_AND HE HAS WITNESSED HER DEATH AMIDST THE FRAY_**

**_HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY AT BAY"_**

**_As the story progresses, Scorpius and Rose enter into a fight in the Veil room of the Department of Mysteries and end up falling through the veil. Rose is quick to turn the time turners back before they fall, causing them to end up in the 17th century, leaving their wands behind accidentally. However Rose and Scorpius are soon captured by the local townsfolk who try to burn them at the stake._**

**_They are rescued by a witch named Roslyn who Scorpius believes is the same girl who haunts him in his dreams and is immediately smitten by her. Roslyn turns out to be the daughter of Irwin Lancelot who runs a local apothecary in the town. He used to be a former Professor at Hogwarts who resigned voluntarily to take care of his sick wife who passed away soon after._**

**_Scorpius and Rose are asked to stay at Mr Irwin's place, who tells them that they have tweaked two powerfully magical objects to reach here, namely time and death. Their conversation is soon overheard by Mr Irwin's nephew William Galehaut Lancelot whom Rose bumps into accidentally one day as he spies on her and Scorpius._**

**_William soon informs his father Bernaby Lancelot of the arrival of two wizards from the future and Bernaby immediately deduces the meaning of it all. He expects the portal to enhance his magical abilities and transport himself to the future. He plots to kill Rose and Scorpius so as to magically transport William and himself to the future._**

**_Irwin soon gathers his wizard friends including Prof Kai who informs everyone that a portal was created when Rose and Scorpius passed through the veil while simultaneously using the time turners. By asking Rose and Scorpius to perform magic, Kai concludes that Rose's soul has been less affected by the veil than Scorpius' soul since his wand performed a normal spell despite passing through such a powerful portal. This could spell doom for Scorpius as his soul maybe damaged beyond repair, should the wizards help them get back to their time. This information, however is kept hidden from Rose and Scorpius._**

**_ Kai also asks everyone to keep this information from Bernaby who will be aware of the mystical effects of the portal and is likely to use it to his advantage. We later find out that Bernaby has been following Rose and Scorpius. _**

**_ Furthermore, Bernaby has recruited Prof Kai's son, Rupert to help him with his devious plans. Rupert , it seems has been distant from his father and dabbling in the Dark Arts._**

_**Meanwhile, Roslyn and Scorpius get closer causing Rose to be greatly annoyed. William gets more curious about Rose and continues following her despite his father asking him not to.**_

**_And now the story continues…._**


	16. Chapter 14

I know I have no excuse for having abandoned this story for several months. All I can say in my defense is that I was busy as hell, what with my new 10 hr job that barely gives me time to sleep. But the good news is that I am back and will never ever leave this story again and make sure to see it through till the end. :D Hope you accept this apology and I hope none of you have lost interest in the story.

This is a slightly smaller chapter, but I promise to make it bigger in the coming weeks. I have got back my lost creativity and am completely in the mood for writing. So expect chapters at a more frequent interval.

A few of you asked for a summary of what has happened so far. So for those of you who have forgotten what the story was about, here's a quick recap.

_**Scorpius and Rose are in their sixth year at school and are sworn enemies. Scorpius has regular dreams of a brown haired girl, but has never seen her face, although he obstinately believes he will recognize her when he meets her. Meanwhile a prophecy is delivered by Professor Trewlaney about Scorpius Malfoy and Bernaby Lancelot which states the following**_

_**"HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY**_

_**THE DESTINY WHICH WILL BE IMPEDED BY LOVE**_

_**A CHOICE HE MUST MAKE**_

_**FOR THE GRISLY LANCELOT TO BE SLAIN**_

_**ELSE HIS TERROR WILL CREEP INTO OUR TIME**_

_**AND HAPPINESS AND PEACE WILL FADE**_

_**BUT THERE IS A PRICE HE MUST PAY,**_

_**THE ONE HE CHASES HAS PASSED AWAY**_

_**AND HE HAS WITNESSED HER DEATH AMIDST THE FRAY**_

_**HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY AT BAY"**_

_**As the story progresses, Scorpius and Rose enter into a fight in the Veil room of the Department of Mysteries and end up falling through the veil. Rose is quick to turn the time turners back before they fall, causing them to end up in the 17th century, leaving their wands behind accidentally. However Rose and Scorpius are soon captured by the local townsfolk who try to burn them at the stake. They are however rescued by a witch named Roslyn who Scorpius believes is the same girl who haunts him in his dreams and is immediately smitten by her. Roslyn turns out to be the daughter of Irwin Lancelot who runs a local apothecary in the town. He used to be a former Professor at Hogwarts who resigned voluntarily to take care of his sick wife who passed away soon after.**_

_**Scorpius and Rose are asked to stay at Mr Irwin's place, who tells them that they have tweaked two powerfully magical objects to reach here, namely time and death. Their conversation is soon overheard by Mr Irwin's nephew William Galehaut Lancelot whom Rose bumps into accidentally one day as he spies on her and Scorpius.**_

_**William soon informs his father Bernaby Lancelot of the arrival of two wizards from the future and Bernaby immediately deduces the meaning of it all. He plots to kill Rose and Scorpius so as to magically transport William and himself to the future.**_

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**The Meeting**

"You have to be kidding me," screamed a young blond as he scanned his reflection in the mirror from head to toe.

"Nope. Mirrors don't lie," replied a voice from behind.

The boy twirled around to see who had spoken. Upon seeing a smirking Rose he retorted,

"I can see you've put in a considerable amount of effort in trying to look good," said an irate Scorpius referring to the long, floral 17th century gown Rose was wearing. "Allow me to observe that you have failed miserably,"

"Sorry but I don't follow fashion tips from people who dress up like clowns,"

"I was given these to wear by Roslyn's father," said Scorpius through clenched teeth.

"So was I. You need a certain elegance to pull off the right look," replied Rose waving her hands like a fashion model.

"So I guess I have company then," sniggered the blond.

"If you're done with the verbal tennis would you mind coming down? Roslyn's father is waiting for us," said Rose, tired of arguing.

Scorpius without disputing agreed to follow her into the living room.

"There you are Mr Malfoy. Come, come. We need to change your appearance, lest you should evoke suspicion again," said Roslyn's father as he took out his wand.

Slowly and warily Scorpius approached the man worried he might damage his hair, something he considered beyond pristine.

With a quick wave of his wand, Mr Lancelot transformed each blonde strand of Scorpius' hair.

There was a chuckle from behind, the source of which Scorpius learned was Rose, which was all he needed to demand for a mirror.

"No!" screamed Scorpius upon the reflection of red on the mirror.

"What is it Mr Malfoy? Do you find it unpleasant. Personally I feel as though my wand did a good job. You look quite dashing, even as a redhead,"

"Uhm Mr Lancelot. No offense. But could you change it to some other colour. Black perhaps?" asked Scorpius.

"No no my child. The color red was intended to make you look like the sibling of Miss Weasley here," he said.

Scorpius turned to look at Rose who shamelessly flashed her teeth at him. Now he understood why she took up the chore of calling upon him to come down so cheerfully.

"Then why couldn't you turn her into a blond?" demanded Scorpius.

"Because I recalled that a majority of the townsfolk had remarked about your hair. And since they seemed to have noticed it so keenly I couldn't risk you walking out on the streets in the same manner, could I?" he replied warmly.

And with that he walked out of the room, to check on the arrangements made for a few guests who were arriving that day.

"I think you look admirable Mr Malfoy,"

Scorpius wheeled around. He took in a heavy breath at the sight of the beautiful young woman in front of him. Roslyn was dressed in a bright sunlight yellow gown, which brought out the color of her cheeks. Sadly her hair was tied up in a scarf. But even without the hair she looked like a princess. A sweet petite princess.

"Roslyn.. You look…you look…"

"Like the sun exploded on your dress," whispered Rose from behind .

"Beautiful," finished Scorpius, ignoring Rose's comment.

Roslyn blushed profusely, adding more color to her fair cheeks.

As Scorpius and Roslyn stared at each other ignoring Rose's presence in the room, Mr. Lancelot walked in and addressed Scorpius and Rose.

"Now listen carefully my children. This entire exercise is to convince the townsfolk that both of you are distant relatives of ours who have decided to spend a few weeks with us. The townsfolk aren't particularly scrupulous and would therefore most likely not recall you from your rather unfortunate tryst last week,"

Rose unknowingly flinched at the thought of the forks and the fire.

"But then Sir. Why aren't you coming along with us?" asked a curious Rose.

"Because Miss Weasley, the Headmaster and a few other Hogwarts professors have decided to pay me a visit. I shall have to be here when they arrive. We shall be discussing at length about your current state of trouble. You can meet them when you return from town,"

"We'll be on our way then Father," said Roslyn and all three of them walked out the front door, Roslyn's father eying them with concern in his eyes.

Scorpius and Roslyn, on the way to the village were engaged in an animated conversation. Rose on the other hand felt annoyed at being ignored so openly. She had never really bothered herself with the rude comments from the girls at Hogwarts. She always had a thought of comfort for herself. _I don't try to look good. I don't bother._

But for some reason this entire episode with Roslyn had her questioning her principles. _Would I look good if I tried?_ But one thing she couldn't understand was why she was feeling uncomfortable every time Scorpius complimented Roslyn's looks. If she craved attention, the last person she would want it from was Malfoy.

Rose, resigned to her thoughts kept quiet all the way, unaware that a pair of dark black eyes were following her and her friend.

* * *

An air of silence was floating inside the residence of Mr Lancelot. The kind of silence which was heavy in thought. Mr Lancelot's study was packed with extra chairs as a number of elderly scholars sat around pricking their brains about something.

The eldest man of the group was seated in Mr Lancelot's armchair with his fingers on his chin. His beard was a long as Roslyn's hair and the mark of intellect was branded on him ever so distinctly. It was also him who spoke first,

"Irwin. This is quite befuddling indeed. The laws of magic have been twisted so vigorously that we may have trouble finding a plausible solution for it,"

There was a nod in agreement from everywhere in the room as Mr. Lancelot sat upright in his chair, looking worried as the Headmaster continued.

"It is quite evident that this concerns two of the most powerful objects in magic - time and death. It may even be possible to answer the age old question of who is more powerful once we learn of its outcome,"

"Surely we cannot gamble with the children's life could we?" asked a concerned gentleman from beside Mr Lancelot.

Again there a was unanimous agreement from around the room.

"This concerns magic which is as dangerous as it is powerful and therefore we would need someone who is well acquainted with this form of magic," said the Headmaster while standing up from the armchair.

"A portal has been accidentally created. Portals have often been researched by the Dark Arts followers. We must find one such person in order to learn more about it and what it implies,"

"Headmaster. Surely you wouldn't want me to accost my brother. There is no telling what he would do once he found out about this,"

"No Irwin. I am not talking of Bernaby, but about someone else. You do recall our friend from Hogwarts who quit his job because his rebellious ideas weren't implemented at Hogwarts. A friend who has a considerable amount of experience in Dark Magic as well,"

"You don't mean Professor Kai, do you?" asked the round bellied gentleman.

When the Headmaster nodded, the room went into a unanimous gesture again, except this time the room disagreed with the Headmaster's decision.

"Nay. What do you say Headmaster? Kai is as dangerous as Bernaby, perhaps even more considering his intellect. He could wreak havoc once he finds out about the portal,"

The rest of the crowd excluding Mr Lancelot voiced their agreement but the Headmaster disregarded the complaints and went on.

"I disagree with you gentlemen. Kai might have an inclination towards the Dark Arts but his heart is in the right place, A disagreeable man he maybe, but he would surely not reap benefit from this. Instead I assure you he will come to our service and help the children,"

The rest of the men didn't share the enthusiasm of the Headmaster, but went along with his plan by trusting his decision. The four men decided to call upon Professor Kai the next day.

* * *

"So who is this Professor Kai?" asked Rose as she helped Roslyn fold the bed sheets.

"I have never met him. But I have heard my father speak of him at length. He used to be a Professor at Hogwarts,"

"Which subject did he teach?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts. And it was his keen interest in the very same subject that caused him to be removed from the school. Professor Kai was of the firm belief that the students had to be more aware of the Dark Arts in order to learn how to defend themselves against it. But many Hogwarts professors balked at this idea and saw this as a ploy of Kai's to train an army of Dark arts followers,"

"How did your father feel about it?" asked Rose curiously.

"My father always detested Professor Kai since he maintained a close friendship with my Uncle Bernaby. He says any friend of my Uncle's is bound to be untrustworthy. However there are a few Hogwarts professors which include the Headmaster as well, who stood by Kai, claiming that he was a proper gentleman whose intellect and fascination with the Dark arts caused him to go astray,"

Rose's mind at this point jumped to another person. Everything she had just heard paralleled the story of the great Severus Snape. Since Rose was a great admirer of the former Headmaster she found herself wanting to meet the man who resembled him in so many ways,"

"Where does he live?" asked Rose

"By the lake on the other side of town. They say he trains young witches and wizards in Dark Arts. My cousin William is one of his students. Propriety isn't something he teaches. One can derive that from my cousins appearance," said Roslyn jeering.

Rose suddenly recalled her last meeting with Roslyn's cousin and realized that she was right. William Lancelot, had given her the most frightening impression upon their first encounter. With his wildly matted hair, abhorrently shabby clothes and a terribly hoarse voice, Rose wondered whether she was to expect such a similar appearance from Professor Kai under whom he was supposedly receiving training.

Roslyn informed her that her father and the Headmaster had called upon Professor Kai to arrive at their house to discuss the issue at hand the very next day. Once Roslyn left the room, Rose collapsed on her bed and wondered what Professor Kai looked like. Within moments she wandered into her dreams, with the image of a wild looking man like William with long hair dangling loosely on both sides of his dirty rugged face and with a voice as hoarse as a bear.

* * *

I promise to make the chapters long and more frequent. Please do leave a comment or two so that I know how many of you are still sticking with this story. Thanks to all those who reviewed and a huge hug to those who were worried I would scrap this story. You were the motivation for me to come out with this chapter this early. :)


	17. Chapter 15

Here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it. Thanks a bundle to everyone who reviewed. You guys keep my pen moving. More comments would be appreciated, so would criticisms, as long as it is constructive. :)

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**Professor Kai**

The next day Rose awoke rather early and eagerly awaited the assortment of wizards that were to be visiting Mr Lancelot's home by mid noon. She was curious to meet the Headmaster, the wisest of all the wizards arriving and the various other professors teaching at Hogwarts. But above all, her anxiety peaked mountain high for the gentleman who was to be the chief guest of the occasion.

Professor Kai was the person who was called upon to come up with a solution to their current predicament. Owing to his expertise in the Dark Arts the Headmaster believed he would be best suited for the job. However, most of the professors, Roslyn's father included, felt it would be dangerous to inform him of the situation at hand, fearing he may take advantage of it.

Roslyn and her father were making extensive preparations just like yesterday to welcome their guests. At half past eleven the group of wizards arrived at their doorstep. Rose who was in the other room heard muffled sounds from the study where the meeting was to take place. As she hurried over to take a peek at all the wizards that had gathered in the room she heard a voice from behind her.

"Great. This was all that was left. To be paraded like a zoo animal in front of a bunch of old wizards," sneered Scorpius, wearing an annoyed look.

"Fine, then stay in the 17th century and raise a family with that wizard in town who admired your pompadour," she replied.

Scorpius ignoring her comment moved a little closer to the door and put an ear behind the curtains to listen to what the wizards in the other room were talking about.

"I thought you weren't interested," shot Rose.

"Well I need to know if they have any crazy plans to permanently colour my hair red. I'd rather die by the hands of Bernaby than look like your brother," said Scorpius.

Before Rose could reply though, another knock was heard on the front door and everyone in the room, including Rose and Scorpius fell silent. For they knew who had just arrived.

Rose braced herself for the image that had plastered itself in her brain ever since Roslyn told her about Professor Kai. She waited to see the dirt stained robes and the wild hair on an ugly scarred face.

Rose saw the rest of the wizards stand up and rush to the door to welcome their guest. Rose saw that all the wizards except the Headmaster were rather apprehensive about this, but felt obliged to follow the Headmaster.

Because the wizards had crowded the front door, Rose couldn't see Professor Kai. After a few moments in which she and Scorpius fought with each other to get a better position to see the newly arrived guest, the men moved aside giving Rose and Scorpius a full view of Professor Kai.

A wave of white flooded their eyes as they saw a man dressed from head to toe in a spotless white robe. The only bit of colour on the man was his dark black hair. The hair was cut so proportionately that it looked as though it had been painted onto his head.

The contours of his face was perfectly lined to give it the shape of a pear. His face looked quite young but it also gave the impression of some one who had been through a lot in life. His dark black eyes glittered like jewels on his olive tanned skin.

Rose could not have imagined a more contrasting image with what was in her head. She found herself stunned silent for a few minutes before realizing that the wizards in the room had resumed their conversation.

But before she could begin comprehending what was being said, she heard her name being called out from the room. Soon Mr Lancelot came into the room in which they were standing and told them that the Professors wanted to meet them.

Rose and Scorpius walked into the room. As soon as they walked in, the wizards broke into whispers. Rose finally acknowledged that perhaps Scorpius was right. It did in fact feel as though they were being gawked at like a cage animal.

Mr Lancelot soon began introducing the pair of them to the wizards in the room.

"Dear gentleman may I introduce Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy. Our visitors from the future," he said while smiling broadly.

Rose and Scorpius both smiled weakly, not knowing whether they were supposed to say anything in particular or not.

Mr Lancelot started introducing each person in the room starting with the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Rose didn't need an introduction from Mr Lancelot to recognize the Headmaster. He was easily the most wise looking wizard in the room. Even Kai, who was supposed to be the man of the moment, couldn't compete with the wisdom that shone in the eyes of the old man. The Headmaster greeted them warmly with a huge grin. He then joked about Scorpius's hair which Rose found really funny but failed to amuse Scorpius, who smiled forcibly despite of it.

One by one Mr Lancelot introduced each wizard sitting, who each had a question for them, about what it was like in the future.

While one rather obese wizard was curious to know whether they had managed to discover a potion to lose weight , another sour looking wizard wanted to know whether house elves were still employed at Hogwarts causing Rose to chuckle for she was reminded dearly of her mother.

Rose knew that Mr Lancelot was preparing to introduce Kai in the end. He knew that he wouldn't merely be asking them silly questions about the future, but all the details about how they got there. Somehow Professor Kai didn't strike her as a person who was interested in whether they had discovered safer shaving spells.

"Now this here is Professor Kai, a former Professor at Hogwarts. He has kindly agreed to help you children get back to your time," said Mr Lancelot.

Mr Kai didn't smile but looked up at both of them very keenly and after a while gave a very curt nod, which Rose and Scorpius returned. Rose wanted to say more, but all the attention made her too nervous to speak.

"Now if you wouldn't mind, would you be so kind as to elaborate on the events that led to your being trapped in our time?" said Mr Lancelot warmly.

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other. It was hard enough to recall all the strange things that had happened to them over the course of the last week, without a roomful of strangers staring pointedly at them.

Scorpius began telling them about the veil room at the Department of Mysteries, something which hadn't been built in the 17th century and thus required elaborate explanation. Most of the wizards in the room were so interested in hearing about the Department of Mysteries, that they didn't seem too excited when they were told that the two of them had fallen over the veil.

Scorpius did most of the talking and described in detail how he felt when he fell through the veil. Rose didn't remember much because she was knocked out by the force of it.

The only person in the room who didn't ask a single question was Professor Kai. He seemed to understand everything the first time it was said, and didn't need any further explanation. In fact he and the Headmaster were the only people who didn't flinch when they described the Death Room.

When Scorpius finally finished speaking, all the wizards in the room turned towards Professor Kai, who had in turn folded his hands and was now looking down at the floor.

The room was filled with a heavy silence, dripping with anxiousness as to what Kai thought about all this. Rose stood quiet, her heart beating faster than ever. Then after what seemed like hours, Professor Kai spoke.

But Professor Kai didn't explain his thoughts on the matter. Instead he looked up at Rose and Scorpius and asked,

"Which is your wand hand?"

Both Rose and Scorpius raised their respective wand hands. Rose her right, and Scorpius his left.

"Take your wands and perform a spell," he said curtly.

"We don't have our wands with us. We left it behind," replied Rose.

"Then borrow someone else's," he said quite plainly.

Rose was offered Mr Lancelot's wand while Scorpius took his wand from a rotund wizard who was eagerly presenting him his.

"Now, I would like you to you to perform the enlargement spell on any one of the object's in this room,"

Scorpius didn't know where any of this was leading to, but proceeded to do what he was told,

"Engorgio!" he shouted while pointing at a book that was placed upon the table nearest to where Professor Kai was seated.

The book enlarged three folds. When Scorpius looked up to see that Professor Kai seemed satisfied with the results, he smiled complacently.

After Professor Kai returned the book to its original size, Rose took her wand and shouted the same spell.

There was a crack and a loud thud. The book Rose had tried to enlarge was lying on the floor, twenty times its original size on pieces of splintered wood which was once Mr Lancelot's table. The plump man who was seated on the other side of the table was so taken aback by this unexpected result, that he almost fell off his chair.

It took a while for the gasps and murmurs to subside. Amidst all the commotion, one man sat calmly as impassive as the calm moor outside. Professor Kai alone sat as though he was expecting something of this sort to happen.

"What just happened?" screamed Lancelot who was also trying to see whether anything was left of his table, which was lying on the floor under the massive book, the size of giant pumpkins grown by Hagrid at Hogwarts. He shrunk the book with a wave of his wand.

"Reparo!" he then shouted and the table returned to its original state.

Once everyone settled back down, Rose returned Mr Lancelot his wand, which she had been holding on to, completely speechless by what her magic had done. Scorpius on the other hand had a nasty grin on his face, the one that read, "_Look what you did_,"

But Rose was too interested to know why her wand had acted in such a manner to care about Scorpius's antics.

Meanwhile everyone sat upright in their chairs, their heads turned in Professor Kai's direction to hear what his reasoning was for what just happened in the room.

"Just as I expected," he said. Before speaking further, however, he stood up and paced around the room once. After a long time, he turned to face the room and spoke,

"Your surmise correctly, Headmaster. A portal was created the moment they fell through the veil. What the young lady's wand just did is evidence enough for it,"

The room sat in rapt attention before Kai went on. "The portal is a magic gateway that has obscure and sometimes bountiful properties. It is perhaps more dangerous than advantageous. Perhaps that is why it has always been a topic of interest for Dark Arts followers,"

"There are several kinds of portals that have been reported by Dark Wizards. The portal that the lady and the gentleman fell through is one of the most lucrative of the lot. Any wizard/witch passing through it is likely to have magical abilities beyond his/her normal means, as the young lady's wand just showed us,"

Scorpius grin turned into a frown. He looked down at his wand and then to Rose who was now wearing the naughty grin which quite clearly said " _Look what I can do_,"

The elders in the room were in a completely different thought process. Half of them didn't miss the glint in Kai's eyes when he spoke of the rich prospects of a portal. Even the Headmaster for a moment looked worried.

But Kai sensed the fear in the room and spoke at once,

"I am not tempted, in case you are worried about me. I do not believe I have much need for any additional magic than I already have. But I cannot guarantee the same reaction from your brother, Irwin. He has always sought more power. It would be prudent to keep this news out of his ears at all costs," he finished with a frown.

"I have been trying to keep him uninformed of all this. However, I doubt whether he knows already. His abomination of a son has been prying the house for quite some time now. Bernaby must surely have send him to spy on us to gather more information!" he shouted, looking angry.

"I caught him spying on me a few times too Mr Lancelot," added Rose quickly.

Scorpius immediately raised an eyebrow and mouthed "_When did this happen?_"

"Yes Miss Weasley had to be introduced to him under very unfortunate circumstances," said Mr Lancelot worriedly.

Kai seemed a bit unnerved by this and said "I suggest you come up with a very good story, Irwin. Bernaby will soon send his son to me to inquire about this situation. I would have to lie rather convincingly to assure him that they are not indeed from the future,"

Mr Lancelot looking worried and took his seat. Meanwhile the look of seriousness on the faces of all the wizards in the room made Rose and Scorpius extremely tensed. If such experienced and able wizards were this worried, the situation was surely graver than they had imagined.

* * *

"What news do thou bring boy?" barked a haggard looking man, spit flying from his mouth in all directions.

The young boy, despite being used to the verbal abuse, flinched nevertheless at the old man's words. His eyes didn't dare meet his father's which were bulging ferociously.

"They have invited Kai over to discuss about the visitors from the future," he said feebly.

More spit fell on the floor, but this time Bernaby Lancelot spat intentionally. He spewed a bunch of filthy words as he got up from his chair, all groggy and unsteady due to the alcohol he had ingested and paced the room.

After a while he said "Go visit Kai. Tell him I want to meet him tomorrow morning first thing!," he said at once.

William nodded and just as he was about to leave he heard another shout from inside the house.

"And I don't want you to spy on them anymore. We do not want to seem conspicuous. Besides, we already possess what we need," he said, his eyes twinkling while, letting out a wild high pitched laugh.

William once again gave a feeble nod and left the broken hut. He knew it was a good idea to stay out of his father's path until he was sober again.

William strayed from his usual path. He was supposed to go to Kai's house which was on the opposite side of the path he was currently taking. Instead he took the same route he had been walking on for the past few weeks. When he finally reached his Uncle's abode, he took his position behind the same tree where he was tackled by Rose a week back.

He didn't know what he was doing there. He knew better than to disobey his father and face punishment for it. All he knew was that he was curious. And his curiosity was proving to be insatiable. He was befuddled by the red haired witch, now standing in her room and brushing her hair. He knew his father would burn him alive for this insolence, but William didn't bother himself with it. For now his father didn't need to know.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment or too to let me know how you felt about it. Even if its a 'It was so horrible I could explode DungBombs all over your profile' . Uhm you get the gist :)


	18. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

**TIME AND DEATH**

"Miss Weasley. Miss Weasley.." a voice called out from the far end of the room.

Rose suddenly jerked at the sound of her name, and found herself facing a number of heads turned in her direction. She had wandered off into her thoughts while the older wizards discussed their problem.

"Miss Weasley. Professor Kai was wondering whether you have experienced any abnormalities in your magical prowess without the aid of your wand?"

Rose who had snapped out of her musings, which she was quite happy to get out of, since she had imagined Bernaby Lancelot torturing her into insanity, replied "You mean accidental magic done without my wand?"

When Mr Lancelot nodded she thought about the question laid before her.

She hadn't performed any magic lately now that she didn't have her wand with her. But despite her growing annoyance with Scorpius she hadn't done any accidental magic either. And if indeed, as the Professor said, they were now to happen more frequently, the pretty girl with the chocolate brown hair now sitting opposite her with her hands placed neatly on her lap, would have been on the floor resembling a dung beetle.

However there were times when Rose did feel like the magic residing in her had changed ever so slightly. She had been feeling slightly more confident than lately even without her wand. And at times she felt as though enveloped by a blanket of electric charge. But this had never manifested itself in the form of accidental magic. Again the proof was the unharmed blonde sitting beside her gawking at Roslyn.

When Scorpius gave the same answer to the question that Rose was asked earlier, Mr Lancelot smiled and told them that was all and that they could retire from the meeting.

"Do not worry in the slightest dear children. Now that we have discovered the nature of the problem, we can no doubt find a way to get thee back to where thou belong," said Mr Lancelot warmly.

Rose, quite grateful to leave to avoid the pointed stares she was receiving from every inch of the room, smiled weakly and followed Scorpius out of the room, who on the other hand didn't even wait for Mr Lancelot to finish speaking to scurry from sight. But it was on her way to the door that she realized something. She turned around quickly and said,

"Professor Kai. If I may ask you a doubt, what caused the portal to be created?"

Professor Kai, to Rose's surprise, looked slightly taken aback. Although Rose later dismissed it thinking that it was more because of her untimely questioning than the nature of the question itself.

"The portal was created because you turned the time turners back and did so while you were crossing the veil. Time is a powerful force - twisting it around while in the presence of another powerful force, namely death, caused the portal to be opened," he said calmly.

Rose looked a bit unconvinced but didn't argue and took her leave from the room.

Mr Lancelot walked her out of the room kindly while maintaining a broad grin. Once he closed the door behind him, his smile faltered instantly. The same thing happened with all the eight wizards sitting in the room.

"So," spoke the Headmaster from the other end of the room, as Mr Lancelot sat back down. "How grim is it, Kai?" he asked Professor Kai, while looking grave.

"Quite," he replied. "Their situation seems hopeless," he said, now a slight crease adorning his forehead.

"I thought so. Such dangerous manipulation of time and death couldn't be without its consequences," said the Headmaster while rubbing his white beard.

"But surely thou could think of something," spoke Mr Lancelot, looking extremely crestfallen. He had expected Kai to deliver a spell and solve the problem in a jiffy.

"We can get them back. There are ways. It is the price we must pay for it, that will be challenging," he replied.

"They passed through the fabrics of death while pushing the limits of time. They are only alive now because they turned back time to cheat death. However, from where they come from, they have already died. In short they left behind their souls when they passed through the veil,"

The room was so tense with what Kai had just said that none of them even dared to breathe, willing Kai to go on about this miraculous development.

"A portal's creation is marked by an event. I told the young lady the portal was opened because they played with their time turners. I lied. The portal was created because they died at the same time they turned back time. It might appear as though Time won and caused them to cheat Death. But the truth is that Death was the powerful of the two,"

"If we are to return them to their time, assuming of course that they would be alive once they return to their time, we will have to imitate an exact set of events that led to the creation of the portal through which they travelled to reach here,"

Several of the wizards gasped. Then finally Mr Lancelot said "You don't mean we should…"

"Yes. Two people will have to die in order for two souls to leave the present," he said plainly.

There was again a few minutes of silence, draped in consternation. Each of the wizards was wearing an expression of horror.

"Is there no other way, Kai?" asked the Headmaster worriedly.

"There might be. But it is hard to say. Like I said previously, very few wizards study this. I would have to correspond with a few of my colleagues to see if there is another way. Meanwhile, make sure this does not reach the ears of Bernaby. He might not hesitate, like we do, to commit murder to leap into the future,"

Mr Lancelot immediately spared a glance at the windows, as though his brother might be eavesdropping right behind the curtains.

"And what about the young lady?" asked a squeaky voice, which belonged to a small portly wizard crouching out of a chair beside the Headmaster. "Why did we see such varied effects on the magic of the witch and the wizard?"

There was a murmur among the room, while each of the wizard remembered that they had indeed witnessed a marked difference in the way the wands of Rose and Scorpius had acted.

Kai joined his hands together and placed them on his lip while resting his thumbs on his chin. He took a while pondering over the question, and as he spoke the murmurs in the room subsided at once.

"The magic of a wizard does not merely reside in his or her wands. When we enunciate a spell, it isn't just the words or the actions that determine the effectiveness of a spell. It is also, as you know, the magical power of our souls that result in the efficacy of a spell,"

"From what I gather, the gentleman and lady did not fall through the veil at once, but each fell through the veil at different times. Mr Malfoy fell through first and lingered on behind the veil, for a tad bit longer than the lady before she had the sense to turn back the time turners,"

"Does that mean the veil acted upon the boy's soul before he came here?" asked Mr Lancelot quickly.

"Yes, that is my guess. If they both fell through the veil at the same time, they would have exhibited the same results while performing that spell. What was curious was not that Miss Weasley's enlarged object was larger than usual, that is to be expected considering she fell through the portal. It was the fact that Mr Malfoy's magic was normal and didn't seem to be affected by the powerful effects of a portal. The portal works on the magic imbibed in our souls. The boy's soul has been tampered with, which is why his magic has been subdued as well, "

"Is that bad?" asked the rotund gentleman sitting opposite to Mr Lancelot.

"It most certainly is. Should we successfully send these children back home, there is always the uncertainty as to whether they are alive in their time. However in Mr Malfoy's case, chances are he would most likely have gone through the veil. His soul was already being ripped from his body as time worked its effect and caused them to travel here. He is at a greater risk of being dead than Miss Weasley,"

These words seemed to hang in the air like the terrible odour of a pungent gas. Wizards all around the room were rubbing their foreheads and wringing their hands. It seemed to the Headmaster this was enough information for one meeting, for he spoke next,

"I am guessing this is it then," he said while rising from his seat. "Let us part in the hope that we can find a solution to this enigmatic problem as soon as possible. I will intimate thee on the next meeting soon. Meanwhile Irwin, I would advise thou to not entertain too many questions from the children. It is better they are unaware of just how grievous the situation is. Let them worry as little as possible,"

Mr Lancelot nodded obediently and all the eight wizards got up from their chairs and walked out of the room, their heads more heavier and their faces more lined than when they walked in.

* * *

Rose was standing in front of the mirror processing everything she just heard. The facts didn't register entirely in her mind yet. All she knew was that there was trouble brewing and that perhaps she had underestimated the situation at hand.

So they had fallen through the portal. A portal which opened because she turned back their time turners, while falling though the veil. Although, she was still curious of the expression on Kai's face as he explained it, it didn't bother her too much since the end result was that they were stuck in the 17th century.

Rose was almost annoyed over the way they were asked to leave the room, before they could hear what the wizards had planned to do to fix the problem, or what approach they were going to take to do so. Rose felt angry at being treated like a child, she was after all only a few months away from being of age. But most importantly shouldn't they have been allowed to listen through everything they had to say, considering how this concerned them the most. Did they expect them to act foolishly once they knew what this was all about?

Feeling extremely angry, she walked towards the wide open window and looked down the grounds. The sight outside did nothing to please her mood as her eyes fell upon the figures of Scorpius and Roslyn who were engaged in an animated conversation. _No doubt detailing the various ways in which she could cook porridge_, thought Rose scornfully.

Rose had been quite shocked to see that none of the things that were said in the room earlier seemed to have affected Scorpius in the slightest. In fact he seemed so unaffected by their problem, that once out of the room, he started discussing the various career options he could choose from if he were to stay in the 17th century.

With the number of things annoying her mounting up, Rose threw one of her pillows at the door. She then started venting her frustration by kicking and throwing all the things that were lying next to her. But before she could do damage to a book lying on the floor, she suddenly remembered that she had one more question to ask Kai.

Her wand had acted differently from Scorpius'. Did that mean the portal had affected her more? It certainly seemed that way. And although at the time, she appeared smug at knowing this, mostly for the sake of annoying Scorpius, she wondered now whether she should have considered it a good or a bad news.

Her thoughts were interrupted next by sounds of giggling coming from the grounds below. Rose peered out the window and saw that Roslyn was laughing , no doubt at a joke Scorpius had just cracked. _Must be about how your blondeness is actually a sickness Malfoy_, thought Rose while fuming.

This has been the routine for the last few hours. Every time Rose sat down to ponder over their problem, she was distracted by Scorpius and Roslyn. Rose didn't understand why she was fretting about those two. She had, after all, been completely indifferent to any of Scorpius' previous girlfriends.

Rose simply couldn't understand why her mind was more resigned to thinking about Scorpius and his vain attempts to woo Roslyn, instead of worrying about whether she would ever get to return to her life in the 21st century.

* * *

"Rose. Father has asked us to make a trip to town, to purchase clothes for ourselves," said Roslyn.

Rose, who was still fuming with a lot of anger from earlier merely gave a hum and nodded her head without even turning back. She was standing in the garden outside looking at the flowers Roslyn had grown and had wandered off into thoughts which as usual began with the portal and ended in Scorpius and Roslyn.

Soon all three of them were dressed and ready to head into town. They were planning on walking through the forest, which was a short cut they always took to avoid prying Muggles.

"So, you've been awfully quiet. Accidentally performed a Silencio on yourself? Must keep you quiet for days, now that your magic has been enhanced," said Scorpius, while sneering.

Rose who didn't expect Scorpius to talk to her looked around. And sure enough she saw that Roslyn was busy chasing her chickens into their cage while Scorpius waited for her.

"How can you stand there and smile like that?" snarled Rose turning around and facing Scorpius.

"Why? Is today the world anti smiling day?" replied Scorpius while stealing a glance towards Roslyn.

"None of the things you heard today bothered you?" asked Rose, whose eyebrows were raised in an arc.

"Why I should I worry about something that I can't fix. You heard Mr Lancelot, they will try to do their best to fix it, so stop pestering about it," he jibed and walked away to help Roslyn catch one of the chickens who was rather reluctant to get into its cage.

Rose swearing under her breath didn't speak to him all through their journey. In fact she wasn't even walking by their side, but a few feet behind them. She suspected if they would notice her absence if she were to leave.

Rose snorted as she pried on the conversation in front of her. It was only now that she paid attention, she realized that Scorpius barely spoke a few words in the middle of his conversations with Roslyn. He spent most of his time nodding and saying things like 'I quite agree' and 'You're quite right', while staring at her like a love sick puppy.

"Father always buys me the best of things," she heard Roslyn say. "These are made from the finest silk.," she said while pointing at her own dress. "They have been hand woven by Chinese elves. My uncle Albert lives in China. He had it delivered from there,"

"Yes they are quite beautiful indeed," said a misty eyed Scorpius.

Rose had the sudden urge to rip the dress off Roslyn and strangle her with it. But then again, Scorpius might not object to it since he wouldn't mind seeing Roslyn naked.

Rose suddenly slowed down. She was sure that a pair of eyes were following her like always and had a pretty good hunch as to who it was as well. She stopped walking abruptly and started taking a detour. She could still feel the person following her despite taking a different route from that of Scorpius. Meanwhile, Scorpius and Roslyn kept walking, unaware that Rose was no longer behind her.

She didn't know why she was braving to tackle William Galehaut on her own. She might be carrying a borrowed wand, but what good would it do against someone who was receiving Dark Arts lessons from his father.

But for some reason Rose wasn't scared. He was after all the same age as she was. And something about the look she saw in his eyes, the last time they met, made her believe that he might not be as dangerous as he looked. All at once, steeling herself, she whipped out her wand and turned around with all the confidence she could muster.

But her arm, which was holding out the wand, lowered at once as she almost screamed at the sight in front of her.

She had expected to see a young man of her age, with wild hair and dirty robes, but instead she had to look at an even scarier man clad in the dirtiest set of robes Rose had ever seen. His face, in some ways, resembled that of Mr Irwin's, but his deeply revolting scars and his grimy skin, together with his yellowish teeth and his hungry stare made him look so evil, one would doubt whether the two were even remotely related.

Rose, without thinking twice, turned and ran at the sight of the man. She ran and ran till she could run no longer. Panting, she turned around to see that the man was nowhere behind her. She was terrified to find out that Bernaby was now spying on them himself instead of sending his son to do his dirty work. Did that mean that he knew about the portal or about how they got to be here? Also why hadn't he followed Scorpius instead of Rose? Was it because he was accompanied by Roslyn or because Bernaby had suspected that Rose was now magically more powerful.

Thoughts kept twirling in her mind one by one, as she took in deep breaths. Breathing heavily she sat on the floor, wondering whether Bernaby had disapparated. Rose was halfway through standing back up from the ground when a large dirty hand pressed on her shoulder, causing her to scream for real this time.

* * *

Please do leave a review. It would encourage me to update more frequently. :) Thanks to all those who reviewed. You are the best!


	19. Chapter 17

Here's a fresh new chapter. Hope you like it :)

* * *

**Chapter seventeen**

**The stranger**

There was a moment's silence in the dark of the night before it was cut through by a shriek like no other. The scream died down at once, leaving behind the same silence like before. A man was lying on the floor apparently seething with pain. His hair was so long and wild that they covered his entire face as he sat kneeling on the ground, panting like a thirsty animal.

For a few moments the silence stayed before being corrupted by the painful shriek once more. This time the screaming man pulled back his head and under the moonlight his face shone a pearly white.

Had the villagers laid their eyes on this man they would have fled, leaving behind any misconceptions that they could burn this man or even accuse him of anything. Such grisly terror was etched on every line of his face that a person would have had to look twice to spot that he was human.

His eyes including his pupils were dark as tar. His face was not scarred but they were oddly contorted as though someone had moulded it into place with their fingers. His fingers were pale and spindly, and they were bleeding profusely, but the wild man didn't seem to wince in pain. Instead, he looked as though lost in a trance.

There was a howl from behind the trees which caused the man to turn behind instinctively. There was a yelp and a thud followed by a rustling of the leaves. The man, after killing the helpless animal pocketed his wand. He was here for some quiet and he was going to get it. Even the sounds of nature seemed to disturb what this man was intending to do.

For several hours the man repeated the procedure. Silence, a touch of magic from his wand, an ear splitting shriek of agony, followed by a few moments of stupor. The man finally threw his wand back on the floor. He lay on the ground facing the stars. It seemed the magic he had been performing was wearing off, for his face was regaining its natural shape.

The man seemed to be lost in a vast amount of pleasure. His breathing eased and just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard the rustling of voices once more. But before he could aim for his wand, he heard a rough voice echoing from among the trees.

"Nay. Do not aim for your wand. It is me. Bernaby," whispered a man who stepped out of the shadows whose dirty ragged clothes stood out in contrast to the person lying on the floor who was almost naked.

Bernaby looked at the man on the ground with utmost revulsion. Despite looking much more haggard and dirty than the person in front of him, he seemed to wear an expression of pure disgust.

"Don't thou have nothing else to do with thy magic boy? Wasting all that Dark Magic for pleasure when there are tasty Muggles on whom you could use it for free. And you wouldn't even need to feel pain," he said.

The man on the floor gathered his robes from the floor and didn't reply. He looked like he didn't try too hard to blend in with the Muggles, for he was quite comfortably dressing himself in wizard robes. He straightened up once he got dressed and turned to face the grumpy old wizard.

He moved a few steps forward so that his face was illuminated by the moonlight. It was only then one could see that he was not as old as he seemed a few minutes earlier when the Dark Magic had transformed him into a repulsive creature. In fact he could have been only a few years older than Lancelot's son, William.

"How is Will?" he asked once he had robed himself properly.

"As lazy as a Muggle. Not worth any good, that boy is. Hasn't even got the nerve to curse a Muggle," he said with the disgust on his face more pronounced than when he saw the boy lying on the ground.

"Why have thou come to see me?" asked the boy who was quite eager to leave but yet felt obliged to stay for it was no doubt apparent he was slightly afraid of the old wizard.

"I have a job for you m'boy," said Bernaby his face doused in a greedy expression.

"What is it?" he said after eyeing the man sceptically for a few moments.

"I will tell you all about it. However thou shall not recount any of it to thy father," he said while moving forward.

The boy looked away as he couldn't stare too long at the utterly disfigured face of the man in front of him.

"I seldom do," he said curtly and bend down to pocket his wand.

"But what shall I get in return?" he asked in a much more confident tone, now that he knew Bernaby needed something from him.

However, upon hearing this, Bernaby's face twisted into a fierce anger.

"Oho. I see. You now need payment in return for your services? And that too from your Master who has taught you all you know of the Dark Arts!" he spat.

But the boy seemed unnerved by Bernaby's anger and nodded without fear.

"Fine. You ungrateful lout. I shall give thou payment. But how about I giveth thou something more than mere galleons and sickles. How about if I giveth thou the opportunity to make a trip to the future with expanded magical powers," he said excitedly.

The boy's expression changed swiftly and it kept growing more curious as he listened to Bernaby speak, as he went on about the visitors from the future, the portal and his plan to kill the two of them before jumping into the future himself.

"And William? You shall not take him with you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nay. He serves no purpose. I need someone who is well practiced in the Dark Arts. You of course were one of my best students I recall. Very talented and eager to prove yourself. This I have decided, this will be your reward,"

"So what will I have to do?" he asked, since he hadn't yet been told what price he would have to pay for this extremely generous reward.

"I will inform you of that later. Until then keep away from this" he waved around with his hands looking repulsed "and hone your Dark magic skills for more useful purposes", he said and walked away leaving behind the boy standing pale faced and confused.

* * *

Scorpius had never seen anyone so beautiful, or rather anything so beautiful. He was ears were letting words in and out without processing it. How could he concentrate when the young witch's beauty was radiating off her face like sunlight and brightening her surroundings.

"What is Hogwarts like in the future?" she asked in between her chatter.

It took a while for Scorpius to realize that Roslyn's lips had stopped moving, she was looking at him expectedly. It looked as though she had asked him a question.

"Sorry. Could you repeat what you said. I drifted off for a…"

Scorpius stopped talking mid sentence when he noticed something. He turned around and scanned the surroundings behind them.

"Where's Rose?" he asked.

Roslyn turned around as well and looked behind her curiously.

"I do not know. I presumed she was walking behind us," she said.

Scorpius went back and walked towards the forest, for they had just left the woods and reached the entrance to the town. He called out her name a few times, but the only sounds reaching them were the rustling of leaves.

"I am sure she is merely lagging behind and that she is not under any harm," said Roslyn trying to prevent him from going all the way back.

"You think so?" said Scorpius absentmindedly while looking around.

"Oh yes I am sure. Miss Weasley, after all, does like to jest, she must be staying back in order to scare us. It is the sort of thing she finds funny," said Roslyn with a tone which clearly indicated she didn't find Rose's idea of humour too funny.

Scorpius kept looking behind him while frowning. Was she after all playing one of her silly pranks? It is was quite like her to do so. She would have wanted nothing better than to ruin his time alone with Roslyn. Playing the damsel in distress so that he would abandon Roslyn and go looking for her seemed like the kind of thing she would do for fun.

"Yeah," Scorpius said finally. "This is probably just one of her silly pranks," he said, despite his mind thinking otherwise.

Roslyn sensed the disturbance in his voice too, which is why she quickly got back to her job of charming him. Scorpius fell under its effect soon enough, for he turned his attention back to her instantly as she waved her hair around.

But Roslyn didn't have to work too long to attract Scorpius' attention. He was immediately distracted by a distant scream which emanated from inside the woods.

"What is it?" asked Roslyn quickly.

"Didn't you hear that?" asked Scorpius who had now turned very pale.

"No," replied Roslyn eyeing him sceptically.

"I heard someone screaming," said Scorpius and scurried back a few steps into the woods. He craned his neck in hopes of hearing echoes of the scream he heard earlier.

"It is probably just one of the creatures that lives in the forest," said Roslyn, sounding a bit impatient.

Scorpius like earlier wasn't listening to Roslyn, but this time because he was, and he hated admitting it, concerned about Rose's safety. After what the elder wizards had told them, he was worried whether Bernaby had finally cracked the mystery of the portal and figured out what Kai and the others wizards had.

Roslyn was halfway through convincing Scorpius that he had perhaps imagined it, when she too heard a scream echoing from the forests.

Scorpius didn't wait for a confirmation from Roslyn this time. He set out straight into the woods once again. He was surprised at his readiness to walk into the forest and go help the Weasley with only a borrowed wand at his defense. _He would have done this for anyone_, he said to himself. _Humanitarian consideration_. That's what it is.

* * *

Rose, screaming turned to face the person she had expected to see the first time. She staggered a few steps back, while holding a trembling wand.

"I am armed. I warn you!" she snarled, her voice trembling as bad as her wand.

William didn't seem even remotely affected by Rose's threat. Instead he looked around the woods grimly. He seemed to be anticipating something and looked slightly frightened of whatever it was.

"Why have you been following me and Scorpius? What do you want from us?" shouted Rose.

William turned his attention back to Rose and looked at her for a long time. Rose noticed that he was bruised and bleeding from his lips. He also looked slightly offended by what Rose had just said,

"I have not been following you and the boy," he finally said not taking his eyes off Rose.

"Liar! I caught you more than once following me and Scorpius. Mr Lancelot even ousted you from his house for doing so!" she shouted, trying to keep her voice steady.

"I have not been following you and the boy," he repeated.

"I have only been following you," he said softly as he stepped forward.

Rose ought to have been more scared to know that Bernaby had asked William to follow Rose alone, but something about the manner in which he spoke made her relax.

"You ought to be careful. You are being followed by dangerous folks," he said in barely a whisper.

She looked at his face and saw that there was an earnest panic etched on it. He was looking straight into her eyes and for a brief moment she wanted to believe him.

"Oi! Get away from her!" shouted a voice from behind them. Rose twirled around swiftly. Scorpius was standing behind them looking livid with his wand held high and ready to shoot a spell.

Rose didn't have time to turn back around. William had disapparated the next second.

She sighed longingly as she searched the woods for a trace of the young wizard. She had wanted to ask William why he had been following her, whether he was asked to do so by his father and who were the dangerous folks she needed to worry about. Rose, frustrated that she wouldn't be getting any answers any time soon, turned around and saw a fuming Scorpius walking towards her.

"Where the hell did you wander off to!" yelled Scorpius the moment he reached Rose.

Rose was surprised to see him so angry. His face was red and swollen with rage with sweat trickling down his forehead. He seemed to have run a stretch to get here.

"I was.." she began.

"You thought it would be funny to wander off on your own, and get yourself caught by Dark Wizards!" shouted Scorpius.

"I..I.." stammered Rose. She was rendered speechless by Scorpius' sudden outburst. She had never seen him look so angry before. But before she could get herself to say anything, she caught a glimpse of Roslyn standing in the background looking pretty pleased about something.

The sight of Roslyn enjoying Scorpius badgering her, was enough for her to regain her spunk. But before she could utter even a word of rebuke, Scorpius strode off towards Roslyn.

"Come on. Lets get going then," he said to her and they both walked away. Rose stood there looking both hurt and confused, unaware that the blonde scampering off was feeling equally confused at the way he had reacted.

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**Note to readers: **Please don't think I accidentally mixed two stories. I purposefully introduced our new character. You'll see why in the coming chapters :) Don't forget to leave a review :)


	20. Note to readers aka I'm back!

Greeting everyone! Yes, I am alive and I'm back! I made a promise to finish this story and I have always stood by my word. Granted I have not updated in a while, for which I deeply and sincerely apologize(Life got in the way). I fear I may have lost a lot of interested readers, but I assure you that I will finish this story. I have already completed three chapters, and am in the process of finishing the remaining. So get ready to be pulled back into the adventurous world of Rose and Scorpius.

In order for everyone to help get on track with whats happening, here is a quick recap of what has happened so far, although I encourage everyone to read the story once again form the beginning to really get into the mood :)

**_Scorpius and Rose are in their sixth year at school and are sworn enemies. Scorpius has regular dreams of a brown haired girl, but has never seen her face, although he obstinately believes he will recognize her when he meets her. Meanwhile a prophecy is delivered by Professor Trewlaney about Scorpius Malfoy and Bernaby Lancelot which states the following_**

**_"HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY_**

**_THE DESTINY WHICH WILL BE IMPEDED BY LOVE_**

**_A CHOICE HE MUST MAKE_**

**_FOR THE GRISLY LANCELOT TO BE SLAIN_**

**_ELSE HIS TERROR WILL CREEP INTO OUR TIME_**

**_AND HAPPINESS AND PEACE WILL FADE_**

**_BUT THERE IS A PRICE HE MUST PAY,_**

**_THE ONE HE CHASES HAS PASSED AWAY_**

**_AND HE HAS WITNESSED HER DEATH AMIDST THE FRAY_**

**_HE REACHES CLOSER TO HIS DESTINY AT BAY"_**

**_As the story progresses, Scorpius and Rose enter into a fight in the Veil room of the Department of Mysteries and end up falling through the veil. Rose is quick to turn the time turners back before they fall, causing them to end up in the 17th century, leaving their wands behind accidentally. However Rose and Scorpius are soon captured by the local townsfolk who try to burn them at the stake._**

**_They are rescued by a witch named Roslyn who Scorpius believes is the same girl who haunts him in his dreams and is immediately smitten by her. Roslyn turns out to be the daughter of Irwin Lancelot who runs a local apothecary in the town. He used to be a former Professor at Hogwarts who resigned voluntarily to take care of his sick wife who passed away soon after._**

**_Scorpius and Rose are asked to stay at Mr Irwin's place, who tells them that they have tweaked two powerfully magical objects to reach here, namely time and death. Their conversation is soon overheard by Mr Irwin's nephew William Galehaut Lancelot whom Rose bumps into accidentally one day as he spies on her and Scorpius._**

**_William soon informs his father Bernaby Lancelot of the arrival of two wizards from the future and Bernaby immediately deduces the meaning of it all. He expects the portal to enhance his magical abilities and transport himself to the future. He plots to kill Rose and Scorpius so as to magically transport William and himself to the future._**

**_Irwin soon gathers his wizard friends including Prof Kai who informs everyone that a portal was created when Rose and Scorpius passed through the veil while simulataneously using the time turners. By asking Rose and Scorpius to perform magic, Kai concludes that Rose's soul has been less affected by the veil than Scorpius' soul since his wand performed a normal spell despite passing through such a powerful portal. This could spell doom for Scorpius as his soul maybe damaged beyond repair, should the wizards help them get back to their time. This information, however is kept hidden from Rose and Scorpius._**

**_ Kai also asks everyone to keep this information from Bernaby who will be aware of the mystical effects of the portal and is likely to use it to his advantage. We later find out that Bernaby has been following Rose and Scorpius. _**

**_ Furthermore, Bernaby has recruited Prof Kai's son, Rupert to help him with his devious plans. Rupert , it seems has been distant from his father and dabbling in the Dark Arts._**

_**Meanwhile, Roslyn and Scorpius get closer causing Rose to be greatly annoyed. William gets more curious about Rose and continues following her despite his father asking him not to.**_

**_And now the story continues…._**


	21. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

William tapped hard for the third time on the door. He was about to turn and leave, thinking there to be no one inside, when he heard a voice from behind.

"If you expect to enter my house in that state, be warned. You shall bear my wrath for every speck of dirt you pile on my floors"

Professor Kai was standing behind William holding a tray of potions. It seemed he had just returned from the apothecary.

William understood the warning at once and soon set to clean his legs and his clothes as much as possible before entering the house.

No one would think Professor Kai's admonition of William was severe once they set eyes on his abode. Every inch of the house was sparkling clean. Everything including books, chairs and dishes were stacked neatly in its place . The place was so clean that it seemed as though a dozen house elves had just finished cleaning up in here.

Kai motioned him to wait in the living room while he deposited his potions in the cupboard. William sat down double checking that he wasn't leaving any marks on Professor Kai's chairs. A feat which was proving difficult considering how it was painted milk white just like every other piece of furniture in the house.

Kai returned to the living room and sat down in front of the boy. Without looking up, William spoke "You asked to see me?"

Kai who was rocking back and forth in his chair, had his hands locked under his chin. He didn't speak but observed William very closely. After a long while, he said " So, how much have you told Bernaby?"

William, having expected this question beforehand, kept his head lowered and mumbled "Don't know.. talking about"

"I am talking about your latest occupation which has been acting as a spy for your father and retrieving information about certain visitors from the future. Don't try to hide it William, I have been informed that you have been following them for quite a while. Surely you must have wasted no time in informing your father of the interesting details"

William's head sank even lower. He kept mumbling indistinctly under his breath.

Kai stood up abruptly. He walked closer to William and spoke more gravely. "William, you and I both know that you do not care much for your father's ways. I have seen the good in you and I am sure you wouldn't want to do anything that would endanger the lives of innocent people. If you have told your father something, let me know what it is, so that we can take steps to correct your mistake, lest it be too late"

William seemed to struggle with words. After a long while he spoke, his voice trembling. He started explaining everything he had done since seeing Rose and Scorpius being burnt at the stake.

When William finished speaking, Kai turned around and returned to his seat. A huge crease had settled on his forehead, his concern clearly etched on his face.

"Did he say whom he intends to transport to the future?" asked Kai.

"No" replied William curtly, his voice laden with guilt.

After several moments of silence Kai spoke again. "It seems he may already have set his plans in motion. But there is still one vital piece of information that he is unaware of. As long as it remains hidden from him, we might still have some hope."

For the first time William raised his head. Curious, he wondered what this piece of information could be. He was about to ask Kai the same when he replied,

"No, I cannot divulge it to you. It isn't that I trust you. But I fear your father may extract that piece of information from you through other means. No matter how good you are deep down, the fear of your father still outstrips your will to do good."

William felt ashamed at Kai's comment and replied weakly. "I wish I could stand up to him"

"Only he who has overcome his biggest fears can hope to be a true wizard."

William, feeling the shame inside him grow, got up to leave. Kai added " I trust you would know by now not to relay any more information to Bernaby. I would request you to keep me updated on your father's doings. We may not be able to stop him but we can at least hope to be prepared when he strikes"

William nodded. As he stepped out of the door he heard Kai call from behind "One more thing, don't get too attached to the girl. They are merely visitors in our time. They do not belong here and have to ultimately return to where they came from"

William turned around, looking shocked wondering how Kai had read his mind. But before he could inquire about this, Kai had closed the door behind him.

* * *

If swear words had an impact on people, Scorpius Malfoy would have turned into a giant slug. For Rose Weasley had cursed and swore at the blond so many times that even Scorpius could sense her ill will. However, if anything, it was making him more smug. Anything that irritated Rose Weasley brought him satisfaction. For at this moment, he was fondling a certain brown haired witch's hair in his hands while she lay her head on his shoulders.

Scorpius felt like the past few days had been blissful. He had managed to declare his affections to Roslyn and she responded with an equally fervent desire to be with him. The star crossed lovers now openly exhibited their affections for each other in front of Rose as though she were an invisible being.

Rose, who was watching the pair of them from across the room couldn't take the scene any longer and walked out of the house in a hurry. Her breathing was ragged and quick and she was tearing apart a handkerchief in her hands.

Every now and then she would curse Scorpius and insult Roslyn. The anger at being ignored she could understand, but it was mixed with a strong feeling of envy. This baffled her. Why would she be jealous of Scorpius having a girlfriend. It was something that never bothered her at Hogwarts. Why now?

Lost in her thoughts she wandered through the woods. It was only after a while when the sun started setting, that she felt conscious of the fact that she was alone. It was getting dark and she started to feel slightly unsettled. She had not properly mapped her way into the forest.

Just when she realized that she may have got herself lost in the woods, she felt a sharp pain in the side of her head. This was followed by excruciating pain, a pain so severe that her knees gave away. She screamed loudly and fell to the ground.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you liked it. Its been a while since I wrote, so my writing is a bit rusty. I am also looking for beta readers so please PM me if you would like to help. Review and let me know what you thought! Great to be back!


	22. Chapter 19

**Chapter nineteen**

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Rose turned around to see who had cursed her when a second blast hit her right in the stomach.

Rose's cries reverberated through the evening sky. Pain, that she had never felt in her life, coursed through her body. Just when she thought she would pass out, she felt a wand being thrust into her hand.

"Imperio!"

She felt the pain in her body leave at once. Her whole body loosened up and she felt as though she was flying. This feels much better, she thought.

"Enlarge the rose bud on your side"

"Uhm okay, but why would I want to do it?"

"Enlarge the rose bud now!"

"Uhm I'm starting to feel its not something I want to do. Thank you very much"

"Enlarge the rose bud now!"

Rose suddenly felt the pain return. At the same moment she heard a rush of noises. Her vision was still very blurred. She realized that she had a wand in her hand and she was pointing it towards a rose bush on the side. She squinted to look at the commotion in front of her.

She could just about make out William battling it out with another dark haired boy, who looked more gruesome than William.

"William, watch out!"

William didnt need Rose's warning to deflect the spell aimed at him by the boy who was not quick enough to deflect William's counter curse. He got hit full in the face by the stunning spell. The moment he fell to the ground, William grabbed Rose and apparated on the spot.

Rose who was still struggling with the pain from the curses of the boy was not prepared for the apparition. The moment their foot touched ground, she vomited. She could feel Williams hands holding her tightly. And soon it all faded to black.

* * *

Rose opened her eyes and a deluge of white welcomed her. She was laying on the couch of an unusually clean house. She raised her head to see where she was and she felt a hand pushing her down gently.

"Stay down. Kai is just getting you some potion to make you feel better"

Rose saw that William looked very shaken. His voice was barely a whisper and it was quivering. She heard noises of scraping bottles and soon saw that a man dressed in white robes was approaching them with a goblet filled with green liquid.

"Here. Drink this. It is a potion made of hellebore and finklets. Its a bit bitter but its the best remedy for body pain. It will make you feel better"

Rose slowly raised herself from the couch and took a mouthful of the goblet. Despite the bitterness, she felt a warmth course through her body as she drank the potion.

When she had finished drinking she asked weakly

"What happened. Who tried to curse me?"

"I didn't see. He apparated when I came in to help you" said William

"Didn't you catch a glimpse of his face?" asked Kai

"No. He.. uhmm he was.. he was too quick"

Rose noticed that William was not meeting Kai's eyes while he answered. She also seemed to remember that there was a fight and she had shouted something.

"How could it be? I remember seeing you duel with someone" said Rose, although not in a very convincing manner as she herself was unsure whether such a thing had happened.

However before William could answer, Kai' expression changed as though something terrible had dawned upon him.

"Rupert!" he exclaimed in fury.

He turned towards William, grabbed him by the collar and shouted "Tell me boy. Who was it? Was it Rupert? I command you to tell me the truth!" Kai looked as though he would throw a fit.

William nodded weakly and Kai let go at once. He took his robes and bolted out the door. Rose, confused by the sudden drama , sat up and asked William why Professor Kai had acted in such a manner.

"Rupert is Kai's son" William said simply

Rose wasn't surprised. Didn't Roslyn say that Kai was deeply interested in learning the Dark Arts? It wasn't a surprise then that he was perhaps teaching them to his son.

"Uhm. Do you think its safe for me to be here?" Rose asked nervously. She certainly didn't want to be in the house of a family obsessed with Dark Magic.

"Its alright. You need not be frightened of Professor Kai. He has never sought to use Dark Magic for the wrong. His son, however, under the influence of my father has turned to the dark side." he said, in a repulsive tone.

"But why curse me? And why did he try to Imperio me?" asked Rose.

"I don't know. I suspect he was trying to make you do magic. I don't know for what reason"

But Rose knew. She knew very well what piece of information he wanted from him. Rose recalled how Kai had asked her to perform magic. She never got a proper explanation as to why her wand behaved in such a peculiar fashion. But she suspected it had something to do with the portal and Bernaby's plans to use it.

William was watching Rose very carefully. He wanted to caress her face in consolation but couldn't muster the courage to do it. Instead he merely sat watching her as though watching a prized treasure.

It was quite late in the night when Rose returned to their house. Professor Kai and William both accompanied her. William insisted he will not enter the house, however Kai wouldn't hear of it. "You must recount exactly what happened to Irwin", he had said sharply.

Kai had returned home in dismay after his rather aggressive search for his son. He had failed to locate him. It seemed this was the last straw in the already strained relationship that the father and son shared.

After a few gentle knocks, Irwin opened the door.

"My dear Miss Weasley! Are you alright?" he exclaimed in surprise.

Rose was being held by the arm by both William and Kai. "We will explain once we are inside Irwin. Kindly let us in"

"Ofcourse. Ofcourse" remarked Irwin once he had overcome the shock of seeing a weakened Rose being escorted by the nephew he detested so much.

* * *

Their lips were about to touch. Scorpius's heart had stopped still. He was holding his breath, his every muscle tightened. He was afraid to move a single hair on his body for he didn't want to ruin the first time they kissed.

As they moved closer, both their eyes closed , the moment Scorpius had so ardently desired was here.

Both of them heard it at once. Impulsively, both moved back.

"What was that?" said Scorpius, sounding worried.

"I do not know. I thought I heard father" replied Roslyn

Despite having had his moment ruined by Mr Lancelot, Scorpius couldn't help feel concerned. There was something about the way Mr Lancelot exclaimed that made him feel uneasy.

"Lets take a look shall we" said Scorpius as he moved towards the door. Looking heavily disappointed, Roslyn followed. One could tell that she was least concerned with the happenings downstairs.

"Here my child. Have a sip of this potion. It's an infusion of flakswood and chocolate. It will refresh you and help ease the pain"

Rose felt a hand pour something into her mouth. It was hot and extremely pungent. She had an immediate gag reflex and would have thrown up had the potion not worked so instantly in reviving her body.

Once Rose finished drinking the potion, Mr Irwin immediately directed his attention towards William. Looking furious he shouted

"Boy! What have you done to her? I demand what you and your father have done to harm this poor child!" he shouted, waving his giant finger at William

William looked apathetic as though not expecting any other reaction from his uncle. However, Kai stepped in front of Irwin and replied curtly

"It was not William, Irwin. William was the one who found Rose and fought off the attacker. He saved her"

Rose felt a warmth of gratitude towards William and raised her head to look at him. William however was staring fixedly at his own feet, unable to meet his uncle's eyes.

"But then, who is responsible for this heinous act? Who attacked Miss Rose?"

Kai couldn't bring himself to say it. One could tell that he was fighting an enormous amount of shame and disappointment. As he struggled to say his son's name out loud, Rose interrupted

"We didn't see him, Mr Lancelot. William only saw a sliver of his robe as he cast a spell at him, by which time he had apparated"

Kai looked at Rose for a fleeting second before turning around and sighing heavily. He was not keen on correcting Rose, so he merely kept quiet.

Shortly thereafter, Rose was taken to her room. Once Irwin left, Prof Kai turned around and promised Rose that he would ensure his son would pay for his actions

"Thank you for not mentioning Rupert's name. I appreciate it" he said with great difficulty before he turned around and left the room.

William was now the only person left. He was standing at the far end of the room, intently looking over at Rose.

"Its okay. I wouldn't mind if you came closer" said Rose softly

William looked stiff and moved ever so slightly towards Rose, afraid that he might hurt her in some way. When he reached about a meter close to Rose, he stopped.

"I would appreciate it if you sat next to me," said Rose waving at the spot next to her on the bed.

William grudgingly conceded and slowly placed himself on the corner of her bed. He was not meeting Rose's eyes but one could tell that his mind was completely inundated by the red haired witch.

"Tell me about yourself. Your childhood, your friends, your mother"

William instinctively looked up. People normally never asked him about his mother. The most beautiful memories he had of his life were with her. He believed that the only thing that prevented him from completely going over to the dark side and his father's ways was the goodness she instilled in him at an early age.

However some of the most painful moments were also about his mother. The fighting, the constant abuse she went through at the hands of his father, the day she abandoned him, not being able to take the abuse any more…

Wiliam's eyes welled up as the thoughts swirled through his mind. He covered his eyes not wanting to cry in front of Rose. His father used to say that only the weak cry. Rose instantly saw the pain etched on his face as he recalled his memories. She raised herself up and gently patted him on the shoulder. She took his hands away from his eyes. William willed himself not to cry but it was proving to be rather difficult not to mention embarrassing. Rose understood his predicament and took his head and placed it on her shoulder.

William didn't know how long he was lying there, with his head on her shoulder, his hands gently wrapped around her hips. The pair hugged each other for several minutes, both trying to find some comfort in each other.

"Would someone care to explain whats going on?" a disgruntled voice sounded from outside the room.

William and Rose broke apart and turned around to see who had spoken. Scorpius was standing outside the door, his face concealed in the shadows. It seemed he had been observing the pair for a few minutes before he decided to interrupt.

"How long have you been standing there?" asked Rose, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Long enough. Didn't want to miss any of the important events. Are you too practicing for Celestina Warbeck's new video?" asked Scorpius looking extremely aggravated for some reason.

William, looking confused, stood up at once. "I shall leave you now. Please take good care of your health. I shall drop in tomorrow to inquire about your well being. Good night my lady"

He then took Rose's hands and placed his lips gently on it. Rose blushed like a dozen roses.

William reached the door where Scorpius was still standing looking more aggressive than ever, his face red.

"Would you mind?" asked William since Scorpius was blocking the door.

Scorpius moved closer to William. They stared at each other for a few seconds - Scorpius's expression mired in anger and William's in suspicion. The tension was heavy and thick and could be cut with ice. Rose was about to say something when Scorpius took a step back and let him pass. William left immediately without looking back.

"What happened?" asked Scorpius curtly.

"I got attacked" replied Rose

"By whom?"

"Rupert?"

"Who?"

"Prof Kai's son"

"Why would Prof Kai's son want to hurt you?"

"Never you mind" said Rose wearily

"Of course I mind. When did this happen? Last I remember you had gone out on one of your strolls which, might I add, is the most irresponsible thing anyone can do considering the current circumstances. How did you end up being cursed by Prof Kai's son?"

Rose suddenly noticed that Scorpius wasn't asking her questions, but rather demanding answers in an aggressive tone.

"Dad. Is that you? Did you time travel and possess the Malfoy?"

"Not funny. I demand to know what happened!"

"I don't owe you any answers!" Rose yelled back, trying to stand on her feet, while clutching her ribs, which has still hurting.

"Yes you do!" said Scorpius, moving closer to the now standing Rose. "In case you forgot, Bernaby has got it in for me just as much as he has for you. We both fell through the veil. We both time traveled to this place! Anything that affects you, affects me too!"

"Oh really? Why a sudden interest in whats happening? Up until a few hours you were happily in the arms of a brown haired bimbo who was fluttering her eyes at you? What happened? Did she turn you down as well? Wow, you Malfoys have quite a reputation. Even 17th century girls seem to be aware of it!" she said with an evil cackle that didn't sound funny at all.

"Oh and I guess you were consulting about world affairs with your new friend. Holding each other for god knows how long. I could have barfed. If only he knew what your reputation was back at Hogwarts!" said Scorpius as he moved even closer.

"You take that back!" shrieked Rose

Rose's and Scorpius's faces were now mere inches from each other. They could feel each other's breath on their faces. The tension between them was electrifying. Scorpius was feeling conflicted. He was feeling both an incredible amount of hostility and an inexplicable amount of attraction towards the witch. He wanted to both wrangle her and take her in his arms and forcefully kiss her.

"Ahem"

Scorpius turned around to see Roslyn at the door, looking suspicious. "Supper is ready" she said in a bored voice. She then turned around and left without waiting for an answer.

Scorpius followed her lead and instantly left the room without a glance at Rose.

Rose sat back down, looking physically and mentally exhausted. What happened just now. Was it her or did she just experience an overwhelming desire to kiss Malfoy? Did it have something to do with her physical state?

She laid back down, her body still tingling with pain, with a flurry of thoughts swirling in her already taxed mind.

_Why did Rupert attack me? What will my doing magic prove? What was Kai and the others hiding from me? Why am I feeling this way about Scorpius? Why did he behave the way he did? And William, where does he fit in in the middle of all this?_

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**Author's Note: **Hope you liked it! Things are going to get more excited as we move towards the final chapters._  
_**Kindly leave a review**. I would love to know what you thought about it. Constructive criticism is welcome as well!


	23. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

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Over the next few days Scorpius and Rose maintained a good amount of distance from each other. Both avoided each other's presence as much as possible. Although this should have given Roslyn enough cause to be happy, sadly it didn't. Scorpius had moved over from his hopeless romantic persona and seemed much more moodier now. He seemed to spent most of his time alone and only came down for lunch and supper.

Rose on the other hand was recovering from her physical injuries. Within a few days she was able to walk without support. She was also regularly visited by William which seemed to cheer her up considerably. The more comfortable William seemed with Rose the more he opened up to her.

Irwin was still cautious about letting William into his house and he would regularly pry into Rose's room to ensure William wasn't upto anything devious. However William wasn't a least bit concerned about his uncle's disdain over his presence. He was completely fixated on Rose and seemed to be in totally indifferent to anything else around him.

Scorpius tried as much as he could to avoid thinking about them together. He was still baffled by his conflicted feelings towards the Weasley. The deep feeling of envy when William came around was so severe that he had to physically lock himself in his room to prevent himself from running out and strangling the dark gimp.

After a few weeks Rose started to feel restless in the Lancelot house. She was tired of not being able to get out. She was forbidden by Irwin from stepping out as there was a chance Rupert or Bernaby would try and attack her again.

Rose tried her best to explain that she won't get herself lost again. She also suggested that William accompany her so that she would be safe. After several requests from Rose and reassurances from William, upon Kai's advice, Rose was allowed to visit the market with Irwin. Professor Kai suggested that Rose change her appearance to look more like Roslyn so that Bernaby or Rupert may mistake her for Irwin's daughter.

As much as Rose hated to look like the brown haired witch, this was her only chance to get out after a week long detention in the Lancelot lodge.

And so Irwin waved his wand and within a few seconds Rose's lush red hair transformed into a luscious chocolate brown.

Rose stared at herself in the mirror for a few seconds. The sight of herself with brown hair made her emotional. She was strongly reminded of her mother as she looked more like Hermione and looked less like Aunt Ginny.

"Shall we go then?" asked Irwin politely.

"Mr Irwin. I am terribly sorry, but I left my umbrella in my room. Kindly excuse me to go fetch it" replied Rose

Rose sprang upstairs to her room to retrieve her umbrella. She looked over at Scorpius's room, praying he doesn't come out. She knew it would be awkward and embarrasing since their last meeting. Once she got her umbrella, she quietly stepped out of the room and, to her surprise, came face to face with none other than Scorpius.

Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks. For a minute he couldn't recognise Rose. He thought it was Roslyn and was about to call her name. But it took less than a second for him to realize that there was something wrong.

His heart pounded faster than ever. His mind was racing to tell him something that he had subconsciously known all along. His breathing slowed and his veins started popping. He felt an overwhelming desire to cross the distance between him and the person in front of him. Within moments he felt like he was transported back into his dream with the brown haired witch elusively standing in front of him. But strangely he didn't feel like a lucid fool like Roslyn made him feel, but a strange sense of strength and stability overtook him.

He was wrong, completely wrong. Nothing was truer than the feeling he felt now. It was Rose that he had been dreaming about all this time. He was in love with Rose.

Rose was perplexed by his fixed gaze. In fact there was such intensity in his eyes that she couldn't look away. However, Mr Irwin chose the same moment to call out her name from downstairs, causing Rose to snap out of her stupor and run back downstairs. Scorpius moved forward and stood at the top of the stairs, clutching at the railings and coming to grips with this profund realization. Once he did, his mouth split into a wide smile, that was larger than this world.

* * *

A thin sliver cut through the woods, alarming the nearby squirrels perched upon a tree. The shadow of a petite figure gently swayed through the woods.

The figure had its head covered in a hood and flinched at the smallest sound as though terrified its footsteps would alarm the people in the nearest town.

After several glances around, the person quickly ran through the pathway that led to a dilapidated structure that some poor fool called home.

After several minutes of contemplation, the person moved towards the front door, taking giant calculated steps. To someone watching from afar, it was clear that the person was putting in every bit of effort to move forward.

Three knocks on the door and a hoarse voice came thundering through the house. The figure in front flinched but didn't back away. All of a sudden, the door flew open

"Who is it barking at my door so late!"

Bernaby Lancelot glared at the hooded figure in front of him who had now taken off the hood. Upon seeing the person's face his face broke into an evil grin.

"Ah look who it is. My beautiful niece. Did you bring what I asked for?"

Roslyn slowly but painfully took out a goblet filled with a thick potion. Looking as grim as a widow, she looked up at Bernaby and nodded.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hope you liked it. I know its small, but I had to end the chapter on a cliffhanger. Hope you are excited enough to read the final few chapters! Kindly do leave a review. Nothings more encouraging than reading feedback. **


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